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Collection of Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


Piael Baek See pages 26, 27 


FOUR EARLY IRON LIGHTING DEVICES ON RARE SEVENTEENTH- 
CENTURY TRESTLE TABLE 


PO OLONIAL 
PIGCGHTING 


A 
New and 
Revised Edition 

by 


ARTHUR H. HAYWARD 


illustrated 


Boston - mcmxxvili 


LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 


Copyright, 1923, 1927 
By Artnur H. Haywar 
All rights reserved — 
Published March, 1927 


ts, 


PRINTED IN THE UnrTED STATES 


¢ y < ot 


¢ ; hired , : 4 ie! 


INTRODUCTION AND APOLOGY 


THIS book is not the very last word on the subject. It is 
the observations, random notes and studies made at various 
times and in various places, bits of wisdom gathered from many 
a lover of the old things much more learned than the author, 
extending over quite a period of time, on a subject which has 
so far seemed to have almost entirely escaped the pen of the 
chronicler; and gathered and arranged so as to show a con- 
nected and cumulative record of the wonderful progress which 
artificial illumination has made in this land of ours from the 
lime 


“ When a band of exiles moored their bark 
On the wild New England shore ” 


up to the day when the advent of gas and kerosene relegated 
the old lamps and candlesticks to the closet shelf and the attic. 
More than that, I have here tried to show that there was an 
mtimate parallel in the purely material development which 
kept pace with, and was closely linked with, the changing 
and expanding intellectual, social and moral growth of 
that sturdy, solid, and, in some aspects, somber and narrow 
Colony, which, from its small beginning on the forbidding 
shore of Massachusetts Bay, spread a network of influence and 
stamped its character upon a vast territory stretching across the 
mountains and prairies to the farthest West and South, peopled 
by men of many races and far different habits; and the in- 
fluence of whose deeds, habits and thoughts, lives to-day in so 
many of our laws and imstitutions. 

I am as keenly aware as my reader of the enormity of such a 
task, and my only apology for undertaking it at all is that as 


vii INTRODUCTION AND APO@e 


there has not been up to the present time, so far as I am aware, 
any attempt to write a book of this kind, some one must make 
a beginning. My purposes then in writing this chronicle are 
these: first, to try to crystallize the fragmentary and confusmg 
bits of information which one picks up, here and there, mto a 
connected and coherent picture, or, series of pictures, in orderly 
array setting forth the various steps by which the crude, early, 
dim, inadequate lamps of the early sixteen hundreds gradually 
evolved into the elegant and fairly satisfactory lighting of the 
early eighteen hundreds; and putting it in such fashion, with 
adequate illustrations, that the average collector may have a 
comprehensive and intelligent grasp of the subject — where 
before was more or less confusion. Secondly, to try to treat 
this subject in such a way as to awaken in the mind of the 
casual reader love for and desire to acquaint himself personally 
with the great art of collecting, and thus add a few more to 
that array of congenial souls, scattered all over the country, 
who find delightful relaxation, as well as a vast fund of 
interesting information, in getting together a collection of the 
relics of past generations; and lastly, and, I think, perhaps the 
most tmportant of all, to make more real in the minds of my 
veaders, particularly the younger people, by means of these 
bits of by-gone days — links connecting the present with a 
long-buried and half-forgotten past— the character, the 
thoughts, and the habits and, particularly, the ideals of those 
splendid fathers and mothers of our great Republic — for they 
were men and women of strong and splendid courage, of loyal 
devotion to their own conception of duty, of deep love for 
truth and civic and social righteousness, and of faith in a won- 
derful future for this new land which by thei self-sacrifice 
they were helping to found. And if I can help to visualize to 
my readers those who daily used these lamps and candlesticks, 
thew modes of life, their virtues, their strong points as well as 
their weaknesses, their daily habits of thought and action, I 


Pee IDUCTION AND APOLOGY 1X 


feel that I shall have done something at least to help us of the 
present day to solve wisely and rightly some of the many 
problems which seem just now to be threatening the very life 
itself of our democracy, and to get back to those principles of 
right living and right thinking, in our relations with our fellow 
men, which were so firmly and deeply rooted in them. 

The author realizes, perhaps more keenly than the reader, 
the many shortcomings of this book. As the reader gets into it, 
he will doubtless note that there are some types of lamps with 
which he is more or less familiar or which perhaps are in his 
own collection which are not illustrated or perhaps not even 
mentioned. This is due to the fact that the field is so immense 
that it was simply an impossible task to describe or, even, to 
know all the variants of the different lighting devices which 
have appeared from time to time in the widely scattered settle- 
ments of this country. Another source of disappointment will 
be the fact that few authoritative dates are assigned to the 
varied types of lamps shown. 

As many of the older lamps continued to be made and used 
long years after improved models came into use and many 
different kinds were in use during the same period in different 
sections, it is only very occasionally, when one can authenticate 
some particular specimen with absolute sureness, that a date 
may be ventured; however, this book should be considered in 
the light of a primer — the A B C of lamp collecting. 

I have been greatly helped by many friends and collectors, 
in fact without their assistance, I should not have had the 
courage to put pen to paper. They have given me generously 
from their stores of knowledge, opened their collections for 
my inspection and camera, and helped me in every way possible. 

My grateful thanks are due particularly to the family of the 
late Doctor C. A. Quincy Norton, whose untimely death forced 
the scattering of probably the largest and most comprehensive 
collection of lamps ever made in this country and the abandon- 


x INTRODUCTION AND APOL 


ment of the publication of a book on this subject for which he 
had been collecting a great amount of material, which would 
have been a really splendid memorial for his years of devotion 
to the subject. I am indebted to the Anderson Galleries of 
New York City for courteously allowing me the use of some 
ten or more plates, illustrating the choicest of Doctor Norton’s 
collection with accompanying notes. Mr. Burton N. Gates of 
Worcester, Massachusetts, has aided me with much valuable 
material and notes and has allowed me to photograph some of 
the best pieces of his collection. Mr. V. M. Hillyer of Balti- 
more, Maryland, whose collection of lighting devices is a 
most extensive one, has furnished some fine plates, as well as 
much information, on this subject in which he has so great an 
interest. Mrs. Geo. W. Mitton of Jamaica Plain, Boston, has 
rendered valuable assistance in allowing me to photograph from 
her large collection of rare Sandwich glass. Mr. Henry Ford 
of Dearborn, Michigan, has an extensive collection of early 
lighting devices containing many rare pieces from which he has 
sent me some excellent pictures which you will find herein. 
To Mr. C. Lawrence Cooney of Boston, whose home is the old 
Iron Master's house in Saugus, filled with treasures of all 
kinds, gathered from Colonial days, and which, together with 
an inexhaustible fund of antique lore, has been freely opened 
to me, I am deeply indebted. Also to Mr. Daniel F. Magner 
of Hingham by whose aid I have added many interesting 
lamps to my own collection. My sincere thanks are also due 
Miss Mary Harrod Northend of Salem, the author of books 
and articles on Colonial days, who opened her rich and ex- 
tensive collection of photographs for my use; and to the Jordan 
Marsh Company of Boston for their valuable codperation 
my study of early glass. 

To all of these and to the other many friends and collectors 
who have most generously aided me with photographs of their 
choice pieces and much valuable information, I wish to express 


PeeeoUUCTION AND APOLOGY © xi 


here my grateful acknowledgment of their kindness and 
generosity. In all this I would not forget Mr. E. B. Luce of 
Worcester, and F. E. Colby and W. S. Snell of Boston, whose 
skilled work with lens and camera has placed before my readers, 
much more vividly than mere words could do, many a rare 
lamp. 

So, gentle reader, if there is found any virtue im these 
pages it is due in large measure to many good friends; the 


mistakes are my own. 
ARTHUR H. HAYWARD 


FOREWORD TO THE SECOND PRINTING 


ABSENCE of adverse criticism and the many letters of appre- 
ciation from people otherwise unknown to the author, coupled 
with the fact that the first edition is exhausted and letters 
from collectors and others seeking to buy the book are being 
received, makes him feel that another edition at this time would 
be welcomed. 

The further facts that no other book on this subject has as 
yet been written, and that a constantly increasing number of 
collectors are interesting themselves in this particular branch 
of antiques, would seem to justify its reprinting. 

That no serious errors have been brought to his attention is 
very gratifying. A number of friendly suggestions have, how- 
ever, been made, and he has carefully gone over the text, 
modifying such statements and making other slight changes as 
these suggestions would seem to warrant. 

As the only text-book on the development of lighting 
appliances in the New England colonies, it has, within the 
limits of a small first printing, found a place in the homes of 
collectors, the shops of dealers, the shelves of public libraries 
and the studios of architects and decorators. 

This, of course, is very pleasing to the author, but he feels 
in duty bound to respond to the letters recently received, and 
to share his enthusiasm and knowledge (so far as it goes) with 
the large numbers who have heretofore not known, or have 
been unable to secure copies of the first printing, hence this 
edition. 

ARTHUR H. HAYWARD 


January I, 1927 


1 
’ 
* 
h y 
a 
i . 


CONTENTS 


INTRODUCTION 


FOREWORD TO THE SECOND PRINTING 


VIII 


Lamps of Ancient Days 

Early Colonial Lamps — Iron and Tin 
Later Tin, Pewter, and Brass Lamps . 
Lanterns 

Candles and Candle Holders 

Early Glass Lamps 


Astral and Luster Lamps and 
Ornamental Candle Holders . 


Random Notes on Collecting 
Index 


‘ . 
7 
7 
‘ r 
3 e P 
' f 


PeLUSERATIONS 


PLATE FACING 
NUMBER PAGE 
1. Four early lighting devices on rare seventeenth- 
century trestle table , Frontispiece 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gate Mcrcatrer 
2. Ancient pottery and bronze lamps. 4 
Collection of Doctor C. A. Q. Norton 
3. Group of early iron rush-light holders. 5 
Collection of Mr. V. M. Hillyer, Baltimore 
4. Iron “ Bettys”? and other a dates 8 
Collection of Doctor C. A. Q. Norton, Fiareford 
5. Iwo hand-wrought iron candle stands, in front of door of the 
Iron Master’s House, Saugus . é 9 
Courtesy of Mr. C. Lawrence Cooney, Saugus 
6. Wrought iron table candle stand 12 
Collection of Mr. C. Lawrence Cooney, Saugus 
7. Wrought iron hanging candelabrum from an old 
Virginia mansion ; Yaa He 
Collection of Mr. Clarence W. Brazer, Chester, 
Pennsylvania 
8. Iron “ Betty” lamps 13 
From the author’s collection 
g. Pair of rare tin three-wick guest-room lamps—one with 
spice-holder_. 13 
Collection of Mr. C. Lawrence Cooney, Saugus 
10. Early lamps in copper, tin, brass and earthenware 16 
Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan 
11. Group of early lamps in tin, iron and pewter 16 
Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan 
12. Rare wrought iron candle stand with extinguisher and snuffers 17 
Collection of Mr. Francis D. Brinton, West Chester, 
Pennsylvania 
13. Interesting iron trammel candle holder with adjustable arm 
Courtesy of the Worcester Historical Society 
Unusual tin candle stand for five candles 20 


Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


XVIII 


20. 


21. 


22. 


23: 


24. 


25. 


26. 


Ay Se 


28. 


29. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


. Three early candle stands two of wood, one of iron 


Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


. Three primitive iron grease lamps 


Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan. 


. Three candle lamps 


Collection of Mr. Henry F Ford, Michigan 


. Group of early tin lamps . 


Collection of Doctor C. A. “Quincy Norton, Hartford 


Rare double iron “ Betty ” lamp 
Collection of Mr. C. Lawrence Cooney, Saugus 


Brass camphene lamp, tiny whale-oil lamp and 
extinguisher in tin . 
Collection of Mr. Horace R. Grant, Hartford, Connecticut 


Tin “ Betty ” lamp on tin stand =. 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Brass hanging three-burner ship or factory lamp 
Collection of Mr. C. Lawrence Cooney, Saugus 


Showing an old iron candlestick hanging from a ladder-back 
chair by its spur ,. 
Courtesy of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


Rare pottery grease oo ; 
Collection of Mr. F. D. Brinton, West Chesten Pennsyl- 


vania 


Wall sconce for single candle with five tin reflectors in 
wooden frame 
Collection of Mr. F. D. Brinton West Chester: Pennsyl- 


vania 


Early iron open grease lamp 
Collection of Doctor Robert E. Sievers, Bordentown, 
New Jersey 


Pewter bull’s-eye reading lamp with double lens. Front and 
side view 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Group of pewter lamps. 
Collection of Doctor C. A. > Nortow Hartford 


Early tin lamps in unusual designs 


Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan 


Group of tin lamps 
Author’s collection 


yf 
24 
24 
25 


28 


28 
28 


28 


29 


32 — 


32 


a Be 


32 


33 


36 


37 


30. 
cae 
$2. 


33. 


34- 


35. 
36. 
37> 


38. 


39. 
40. 


Al. 


42. 


43. 
44. 


45. 


46. 


47- 


HOUSTRATIONS 


Patent whale-oil tumbler lamp and different views of two lamps 


in previous plate 
Author’s collection 


Painted and japanned tin hand lamps __. 
Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan 


Small tin hand lamps 


Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan 


Whale-oil and camphene pewter lamps 
Collection of Doctor C. A. Q. Norton, Hartford 


Group of unusual lamps in tin, pewter, brass and iron 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


Group of pewter lamps 
Author’s collection 


Brass lamps and candlesticks 
Collection of Doctor C. A. Q. Norton, Harttord 


Fine collection of pewter lamps. 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


Bull’s-eye watchman’s lantern, early tin candle sconces 
and candle mould . 
Author’s collection 


Pair of folding pocket candlesticks in brass 
Collection of Mrs, A. C. Marble, Worcester 


Group of unusual lighting devices 
Courtesy of Worcester Historical Society 


Four lanterns of unusual designs. 
Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan 


Group of pewter lamps. 
Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan 


Old English tin horn lanthorne 
Collection of Mr. Horace R. Grant, Yiaied 


Painted tin and glass whale-oil hand lamp. 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Cast iron grease lamp, said to have been used to light 
the witchcraft prisoners in Salem jail . . 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Types of old lanterns 
Collection of Doctor C. A. Fe Norton Hartford 


Four old pierced tin lanterns 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


XIX 


40 
41 
41 
44 
45 
48 
49 


52 


53 
53 
56 
57 


57 


60 


60 


60 


61 


64 


XX 


48. 
49. 
50. 
51. 
ng. 
53- 
54 
55- 


56. 


57: 


58. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Interesting group of lighting devices 
Courtesy of Worcester Historical Society 


Four round iron whale-oil lanterns 


Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan 


Four candle lanterns in brass and tin 


Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan 


Three tin lanterns and early tin whale-oil lamp 
Author’s collection 


Candlestick with mica chimney . 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Fine type pewter spark or tavern lamp 
Collection of Mr. C. Lawrence Cooney, Saugus 


Three odd-shaped lanterns 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates: Worcester 


Four old lanterns (one used on first Worcester Railroad) 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


Old wall candle sconce and tinder box in tin, rare iron 
pistol tinder 
Collection of Mr. C. Lawrence Cooney, Saugus 


Old lamp in copper, used by early Jesuit missionaries 
to the Indians 
Collection of Mr. C. Lawrence Cooney, Saugus 


Varieties of tinder boxes, flints and steels . : 
Collection of Mr. V. M. Hillyer, Baltimore 


. Group of candle moulds in tin and pewter 


Collection of Mr. V. M. Hillyer, Baltimore 


Group of tin candle moulds 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, ‘Worcester 


. Interesting group of candlesticks in iron, tin, pewter and brass 


Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


. Group of snuffers, extinguishers and taper sticks 


Collection of Mr. V. M. Hillyer, Baltimore 


Unusual candle sconce with pewter reflectors 


Collection of Mrs. Henry A. Murray, New York City 


Tin wall sconce with odd glass reflector . 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


. Tin lard-oil lantern with “ nail-head ” glass 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


76 


76 


77 


80 


Sr sy 


84 
85 
88 
88 


88 


66. 
67. 
68. 
69. 
70. 


Ee 


a2, 


o7. 
“7s 


75« 


76. 


77° 
78. 


79+ 
80. 


81. 


bE LUST RATIONS 


Old pewter “ Betty ” lamp of unusual shape. 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Pair of candle shades or “ hurricane glasses ” 


Collection of Mr. Henry Ford, Michigan 


Three tin wall candle holders, old tin candle box with original 
moulded candles, rare clay candlestick and tin tinder box 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


Group of unusual tin wall sconces 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, CW iwenster 


Brass candlesticks and lamps 
Collection of Doctor C. A. Q. Norton. Hartford 


Collection of rare Bennington ware — candlesticks and one rare 
lamp base in center 
Collection of Mr. Baiton N, Gate: Worcester 


Group of Sandwich glass Dads eae many of the “ Dolphin ” 
pattern 
Collection of Mas. Ce W. Mitton, Jamaica Plain, 
Boston | 


Pair of moulded and cut Sandwich glass candlesticks with lusters 
Courtesy of Jordan Marsh Company, Boston 


Pocket lighting outfit — flint, steel and wooden tinder box 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Group of Sandwich candlesticks in clear, colored and 
opaque glass. 
Collection of Mr. Carton N. Gates, Warceter 


Glass table and spark lamps (many of them probably Sandwich) 
Collection of Doctor C. A. Q. Norton, Hartford 


Group of glass lamps (many Sandwich) 
Author’s collection 


Group of rare Sandwich glass lamps 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


Unusual glass spark lamps. 
Collections of Mr. B. N. Gates and Mrs. A. C. Marble, 


Worcester 


Sandwich glass lamps of rare patterns 
Collection of Mrs. George W. Mittony Jamaica Plain, 
Boston 


Historical and unusual glass lamps. 
Collection of Doctor C. A. Q. Noreen, Hartford 


XX1 


88 


89 


92 


3 


96 


oF 


IOI 


IO! 


104 
105 
108 
109 


112 


113 


116 


Xxli 


82. 


83. 


84. 


85. 


86. 


87. 


88. 


89. 


90. 


gl. 


92. 


93. 


94. 


95- 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Group of early Sandwich glass lamps 
Courtesy of Jordan Marsh Company, Boston 


Rare Sandwich glass lamps in various colors 
Collection of Mrs. George W. Mitton, Jamaica Plain, 
Boston 


Some unusual patterns in Sandwich glass 
Courtesy of Jordan Marsh Company, Boston 


Rare handbill showing the Cambridge works of the 
New England Glass Company 
Courtesy of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


Group of patented glass lamps. 
Collections of Worcester Historical Society and 


Mr. B. N. Gates 


Five glass lamps and two candlesticks, all of rare Sandwich 
patterns 
Collection of Mrs. George Ww. Mitton, Jamaica Pin 
Boston 


Three pairs and two single Sandwich glass lamps of striking 
designs 
Courtesy of Jordan Marsh ‘Company, Boston 


Hall at “‘ Indian Hill ”, West Newbury, Massachusetts, One 
a fine old hall intern 
Photograph by Miss M. H. Northend, Salem 


Pair crystal table candelabra with Wedgwood bases 
Photograph by Miss M. H. Northend, Salem 


Another pair of crystal table candelabra, ‘the cut crystals are in 
both clear and colored glass. : 
Photograph by Miss M. H. Northend, Salem 


Dining room at “Indian Hill”, home of the late Mr. Ben 
Perley Poore, West Newbury, Massachusetts — built about 
1680 — showing a beautiful glass hanging chandelier . 

Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Pair mantel Astral lamps, with double burners, in bronze with 
cut crystals 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Pair single-burner mantel Astral lamps 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


One of a pair of French gilt and cut crystal wall ie 
candelabra ; ' 
Author’s collection 


I2I 


124 


125 


128 


129 


132 


133 


133 


136 


137 


137 


140 


a a a 


96. 


97: 


98. 


99: 


100. 


IOI. 


102. 


103. 


104. 


105. 


106. 


107. 


108. 


109. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Gilt and cut crystal candelabrum with Watteau figure 
Author’s collection 


Elaborately wrought wall bracket for two candles in bronze 
and festoons of cut crystals 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Pair bronze and marble mantel or table candelabra with cut 
crystal drops 
Photograph by Miss Mary. H. Northend, Salem 


Beautiful set of “ Paul and Virginia ” candelabra with elaborate 
crystal lusters 


Photograph by Miss Mary Eke Northend, Salem 


Central two-burner bronze Astral lamp flanked by one of a 
pair of side lamps. Elaborate designs with cut drops and 
lusters 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Gilt and crystal candelabrum standing on a carved and gilded 
bracket (spread eagle design dating about 1800) 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Tall graceful bronze table lamp with pair of curious glass 
hand lamps : 
Photograph by Miss Mary Hi, Northend, Salem 


Two-burner tall bronze Astral lamp (the ancestor of our 
modern student lamp) . 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Graceful crystal chandelier with cut drops. 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Tall Astral lamp with bronze base and eee a shade of 
unusual design 
Author’s collection 


Tin whale-oil lantern with odd original glass . 
Collection of Mrs. Ashbel P. Fitch, Quogue, Long Island 


Rare Wedgwood hanging chandelier for six candles 
Collection of Mrs. George W. Mitton, Jamaica Plain, 
Boston 


Two Astral lamps with lusters 
Author’s collection 


Early iron rush-light holder on wooden base (Left) 
Collection of Mr. C. Lawrence Cooney, Saugus 


Tin lard-oil lamp with tin reflector (Right) 
Collection of Mrs. A. A. Dana, West Orange, New Jersey 


XXIll 


140 


I41 


144 


144 


145 


148 


149 


149 


152 


153 


153 


156 


157 


157 


1$7 


XXIV ILLUSTRATIONS 


110. Fine example of English or Irish cut crystal chandelier now in 
home of Mr. Edward D. Brandegee, “ Faulkner Farm ”, 
Brookline, Massachusetts Rea he 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


111. ‘T'wo unusual tall lamps, one pewter and one glass, with original 
shades. Sheffield candlestick : ; 
Author’s collection 


112. Two fine hanging hall lanterns 
Collection of Mr. Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


113. Hanging hall lantern with colored glass shade _ 
Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


114. Fine old chandelier with cut crystal pendants. (Note brackets 
on side. walls) 


Photograph by Miss } Mary. i. Northend, Salem 


DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR 


Clay lamp found in the debris on the site of the ancient City of Nippur 
in Assyria. Made by rolls of clay wound spirally. The nose for 
the wick was made separately, then attached, and there are the 
remains of a rude handle 


Clay lamp from the ruins of the oes a of Memphis on 
the Nile 


Old Hebrew lamp of terra cotta found outside the old walls of 
Jerusalem, twenty-eight feet below the present surface of the 
ground. May be Sa as BA of the type } in ay use = 
the Israelites 


Soapstone Eskimo lamp (left) known as a ava or ase ia 
The larger, of hard-baked clay, came from North Alaska 


‘Iron Betty lamp which was owned by Captain John Carver, first 
governor of the Plymouth Colony, and is said to have been 
purchased by him in Holland gee before cage on the 
“* Mayflower ” 


Tin whale-oil lamp used i Abraham Lincoln 


Railroad lantern used in coaches of first railroad trains between New 
Haven and Springfield in 1844 


Tin lantern for three candles found hidden in oven of old John Brown 
house in Torrington, Connecticut ‘ 


160 


161 
162 


162 


163 


a a a — —— 


i el 


r ih 


CHAPTER I 
LAMPS OF ANCIENT DAYS 


To one who is at all interested in the subject of the develop- 
ment of lighting from the crude primitive lamps of early New 
England Pilgrim days, the study of artificial illumination from 
the earliest times is very essential, as furnishing not only a 
starting point but a fitting background from which the remark- 
able changes of the last three centuries stand out with great 
vividness. 

If we pick up one of the “ Betty ” lamps, the little iron open 
wick lamps which the first New England pioneers brought 
over on the Mayflower and subsequent ships, and which, filled 
with rank-smelling fish oil, furnished what little light they had, 
aside from the blazing logs in the crude fireplaces of the log 
huts, during those gloomy winter days of 1620 and following 
years; we must hark back thousands of years, for this Plymouth 
lamp of 1620 a.p. is identical in design and principle with 
lamps found in excavating the buried cities of Greece, Rome 
and other once famous and populous countries of Asia, Europe 
and Africa — but now only a memory — some of them dating 
as far back as 6000 B.c. Compare the Plate 2 with Plate 4 
showing a collection of lamps from Doctor Norton: the resem- 
blance is startling, which brings us to the astounding fact that 
while civilization was advancing steadily and at times swiftly, 
and remarkable progress was being made in art, science, learning 
and handicraft of almost every kind, such an essential and 
important thing as artificial lighting remained practically at 
the same point for at least ten thousand years, and it is only 


4 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


within the last two hundred years that the tremendous ad- 
vance was accomplished. 

The origin of the first lamp is hidden in the dark and 
mysterious recesses of time at the beginning of history. For 
myself I can see a picture of some vigorous and powerful 
specimen of a cave man, returning from a successful hunt, his 
stone weapons in his hand and his quarry flung across his 
shoulders. He comes to the entrance of his cave house and 
flings down his burden while he seeks rest and warmth by the 
open fire which is carefully guarded and kept alive from the 
smouldering embers of the last great thunder storm when 
jagged bolts of lightning started a devastating forest fire. 
His female companion takes the slaughtered animal, crudely 
dresses it and props it up in front of the fire for roasting. Idly 
watching, the cave man sees that some of the fat from the 
roasting meat has dripped down on the rock and has formed a 
tiny pool, and into this as he looks, from one of the logs just 
placed on the fire, drops a tiny bit of dry moss, all ablaze. 
It floats about on the surface of the oily pool, sending up a 
spiral of smoke from its tiny flame. His attention is called 
away by some sounds in the forest yonder and he forgets it 
for the time. After a bit his eyes idly light on it again to 
observe that it still floats and burns with increased energy. The 
meat is now ready and he tears off a portion for himself and 
then the rest is distributed among the others of his family. 
When he has finished and he goes to renew the fire which has 
burned down to a bed of embers, he notices the floating moss 
still burning with a small, hot, steady flame and then and there 
is formed the idea of the first lamp. He goes out and picks 
up from the refuse heap the skull of some small animal, into 
which he puts some of the hot, melted fat and lighting a piece 
of dry moss drops it in, and the first lamp made by the hand 
of man has come into being. 

When one considers how much of the world’s business and 


Sue 


Collection of Doctor C. A. Q. Norton, Hartford 


eT ee 2 See pages 3,9, 10 


ANCIENT POTTERY AND BRONZE LAMPS 


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aver > OK ANCIENT VY DAYS 5 


pleasure has been done after the sun has disappeared, it seems 
strange that the ingenuity of man, so abundantly exercised in 
other directions, should not have been turned to the subject of 
artificial lighting and that the absurdly inadequate and crude 
methods of those very ancient days should have been accepted, 
apparently without serious protest, almost up to the present. 
When, however, the change did come, it was most rapid and 
from the glittering, gorgeous “ White Way ” of a twentieth 
century metropolis back to the days of our Pilgrim forefathers 
seems like a journey of innumerable ages, while it is really only 
a span of some six or eight generations. 
It may be fairly assumed that, 
next to implements of warfare, 
stone and clay lamps were among 
the first articles for domestic use 
made by the hand of man. Al- 
most all the large museums of the 
world have collections of lamps 
which have been found in exca- 
vating the sites of cities which 
have grown to prominence and fame, been the seat of opu- 
lence, luxury and the higher civilization of the times and have 
finally disappeared and been covered by the dust and debris 
of centuries and then quite frequently furnished the sites of 
yet other cities which have passed through the same cycle. 
This little drawing is of an old lamp of sun-dried clay from 
the collection of Doctor Norton of Hartford, Connecticut. It 
was found many feet beneath the surface on the site of the 
city of Nippur, one of the oldest of the Babylonian cities, near 
the entrance to the King’s Library. As this city was destroyed 
more than six thousand years before Christ, it makes the age of 
this lamp at least eight thousand years. Excavations in Egypt, 
Asia Minor, and southern Europe, in the countries of the older 
civilizations, among the household utensils often yield lamps, 
or parts of lamps, which find their way into the museums. 


6 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


The very earliest of these lamps are usually of clay, either 
sun-dried or kiln-burned, and of course are fragile and easily 
broken. Later they were cut from rock; and finally when the 
use of ores became known they were fashioned from iron, 
bronze and other metals, but invariably the shape was the same, 
no matter of what material made: a hollow receptacle for the 
oil, either open or covered, a handle for carrying it, on one side, 
and opposite it a little trough or gutter in which the wick rested. 
As civilization advanced the lamps assumed a more artistic 
aspect. The shapes became less clumsy, the general appearance 
more graceful and delicate ornamentation began to appear on 
those carved from stone 
or cast from bronze or 
other metals. 

Both the Greeks and 
the Romans made lamps 
from alabaster and 
metals which show both 
in workmanship and de- 
sign artistic ability of a 
very high order. 

Lamps are frequently 
referred to in ancient writings. Homer, the Greek poet, writ- 
ing about 950 B.c. speaks of the lamps and torches used in 
the temples, and Heroditus in 445 B.c. describes the proces- 
sion of lamps, a festival held at Sais in Egypt, and remarks 
upon the vast number and variety of lamps there displayed. 

An early mention in the Bible is found in the fifteenth 
chapter of Genesis — God is making his covenant with Abram 


and tells him to build an altar and place sacrifices thereon and 
then the record says: 


And it came to pass that when the sun went down and it was 
dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp [or a 
torch] that passed between those pieces. 


DAMPS OF ANCIENT DAYS 7 


Again there is more specific mention of lamps as we use the 
word in the account in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus of 
the directions for making the golden candlestick (or more 
properly a golden lamp stand) for the tabernacle. In the 
thirty-first verse we find: 


And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold, of beaten 
work shall the candlestick be made; his shaft and his branches, 
his bowls, his knops and his flowers shall be made of the same 
— and six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three 
branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof and three 
branches of the candlestick out of the other side. 


Then in the thirty-seventh verse: 


And thou shalt make 
the seven lamps thereof; 
and they shall light the 
lamps thereof; that they 
may give light over 
against it. 


And in the twenty-seventh chapter, the twentieth verse we 
read: 


And thou shalt command the children of Israel that they 
bring thee pure olive oil beaten for the light to cause the lamp 
to burn always. 


And again in the thirty-seventh chapter, the twenty- 
third verse,—“ And he made his seven lamps and his snuffers 
and his snuff dishes of pure gold ”,— showing that ornamental 
lamps burning with a wick in olive oil were well known by 
Hebrew artisans at that early date. 

In Greece and Rome at most of the out-of-door celebrations 
and arena games as well as the larger feasts indoors, the illumi- 


8 COLONIAL LIGH Pie 


nation was by torches in metal baskets of resinous woods, fats 
and other inflammable material, and one of the early Greek 
writers in speaking of the pale smoky flame from fats and oils 
says, “ One could not enjoy the good things of the table until 
his indulgence in wine had made him indifferent to the stench 
of the smoking lamps.” 

A variety may be found ina very primitive and ancient form 
of torch or huge candle made up of long stalks of flax or 
rushes pressed together and saturated with grease or tallow. 
As this burns freely and rather rapidly, it is kept coiled up and 
pulled out as fast as it 1s consumed. ‘These were used at the 
olden Hebrew weddings and other ceremonial occasions and 
were undoubtedly what was referred to by Jesus, when He said, 
“A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he 
not quench till he send forth judgment unto victory.” These 
rush lights were also used extensively among the poorer people 
of Europe and also to a limited extent by the early Pilgrims in 
New England and were made in the same way — hollow reed, 
or rushes saturated with tallow or fat and made in long rib- 
bons, burning them in rush light holders as shown in Plate 3. 


One curious fact is that the only aborigines of this continent 
known to have lamps were the Esquimaux, whose lamps of 
stone, clay, or bone were a very important and highly prized 
part of their household equipment. Oil of the seal, whale, and 
walrus was burned in these lamps, moss furnishing the wick, 


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Courtesy of C. Lawrence Cooney, Saugus 


NAIR SBI S See pages 82, 87, &S 


TWO HAND-WROUGHT IRON CANDLE STANDS, 
TAKEN IN FRONT OF THE DOOR OF THE 
IRON MASTER'S HOUSE, SAUGUS 


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Peers OF ANCIENT DAYS 9 


and the Esquimaux often made long, hard journeys to the 
places where they could obtain the soapstone. So highly valued 
were they that no young man was considered ready to marry 
unless he could show at least one or more lamps, which became 
the dowry of the bride and in the family life were the par- 
ticular pride and care of the women. But no trace of lamps 
of any kind has been found among the ruins left by the mound 
builders and other very early inhabitants of this country, and 
none was known by the Indians roaming the forests and hunting 
grounds when found by the first white men. 

Plate 2 gives views of a very interesting collection of ancient 
lamps gathered together by the late Doctor C. A. Quincy Nor- 
ton of Hartford, Connecticut, who became very much interested 
in the subject of lighting and spent a number of years traveling 
about the country, gathering specimens illustrating different 
periods in the gradual development, and particularly lamps 
having some historic association. 

He planned to use his collection to illustrate a book on the 
evolution of lighting, with particular emphasis on the work of 
the colonists of America, which should be an exhaustive and 
authoritative treatise on the subject, but unfortunately he died 
before his book was completed and his vast store of information 
on the subject was lost to the world. After his death his 
collection was dispersed by auction sale in New York and 
several of the plates in this book are from the catalogue of that 
sale. 

Perhaps his most attractive (to us at least) lamps are those 
associated with famous men and women — some of those are 
shown here in this book and will be referred to in later chapters. 

His collection of ancient lamps was very interesting. In 
Plate 2, Numbers 1 and 2 are small lamps, some three inches 
in length made of sun-baked clay, and were found on the site 
of the buried city of Nippur in Babylonia. As this city was 
destroyed at least six thousand years before Christ, it means 


eo) COLONIAL LIGHTING 


that the potter’s hands who fashioned them worked some eight 
thousand or more years ago. Numbers 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, while 
not so old, long outdate the Christian era and were found 
buried among the ruins of Rome and cities of Egypt and 
Palestine. Numbers 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17 are also clay lamps : 
of a somewhat later period, most of them of Grecian origin and 
showing a decided development in form and decoration. 

Numbers 21 and 22, while quite similar in shape, were found 
far apart. They show an open or saucer-shaped lamp of clay 
with a slight depression in one side for the wick. Number 21 
came from Armenia and is supposed to be at least two thousand 
years old, while Number 22 was found in the north of Scot- 
land and dates back to about the fifteenth century. 

These open saucer lamps, either in pottery or iron, are 
occasionally found here, in New England or in the South, and 
are often locally known as “ grease lamps ” or sometimes called 
“ slut lamps”, but as they were very crude the number used 
must have been limited and they were soon superseded by 
better and more efficient ones. Number 32 is a carved soap- 
stone lamp from Japan and dates from the twelfth century. 

It is interesting to note how closely the lines of these lamps 
follow one another though coming from places so widely 
separated. 

Numbers 97, 109, 118 are all bronze lamps, probably of 
Grecian origin, while Number 343 is from Rome. 

Number 132 is a very early Christian lamp, bronze, of 
undoubted Roman make and probably dates from the first or 
second century. It is in unusually fine condition for one so old. 

These lamps, stretching over centuries, from many parts of 
the world, give us the starting point from which the active 
minds and brains of our own ancestors gradually evolved, 
slowly at first, then much more rapidly, keeping pace with the 
economic and intellectual development of the times, the various 
lighting devices which are the subject of the succeeding 
chapters. 


CHAPTER II 
EARLY COLONIAL LAMPS—IRON AND TIN 


Tue first Pilgrim lamp was of the type known to-day as 
the iron “ Betty ” as shown in the drawing. Captain John 
Carver, first Governor of Plymouth Colony, purchased in 
Holland just before he sailed a Dutch iron “ Betty ” lamp, 
the feeble light of which undoubtedly helped to make less 
gloomy that crowded cabin from which 
dates so much of our history. 

Such small iron lamps, as may be seen, 
were very similar in shape to the old 
Greek, Roman and Assyrian ones and 
precisely the same in principle. The 
body was usually cast or wrought in 
one solid piece, with the nose or spout 
for the wick to lie in at one end, and a 
short, curved upright handle opposite. 
To this handle were often attached a 
short linked chain with an iron spindle 
and hooked end, and also a slender iron 
pick to free the wick when it became 
crusted with soot or carbon. The spindle 
was used either to hang up the lamp from the top of the chair 
where the reader sat or to fasten it in position by sticking the 
sharp end between the stones of the fireplace. Oil was obtained 
from the swarms of small fish found in great abundance all 
along the coast; but the light was very feeble, the wick con- 
stantly crusting over, and the odor of the burning fish oil any- 
thing but agreeable. 


ae i) COLONIAL LIGHT ia 


Another very common form of illumination in those early 
days was what is known as “ Candle-Wood.” Pieces of the 
resinous pitch pine, so common all along the wooded New 
England coast, were cut in length and size not unlike large 
candles and stuck between the stones of the crude fireplaces 
or in improvised holders. They burned freely, giving quite a 
bright flame with, however, considerable smoke; and since the 
only expense was the time and trouble of cutting and drying 
the wood, they were used very generally for many years. It 
was common at night to see the family gathered round the big 
stone fireplace, often in the only room of comfortable size in 
the crude log house. On the hearth a fire of huge logs briskly 
burned, and two or three of the resinous candle-wood torches 
either stuck in the sides of the fireplace between the stones, 
or standing upright on the hearth — supplemented the light 
from the burning logs. By these mingled lights the good man 
could see to read the Bible, which he had brought with him 
from the old country; while the mother spun her flax or wool 
for the family clothing or industriously drove her shuttle back 
and forth in the big loom over in the corner; and while the 
children in their seats near the sides of the great fireplace 
studied from the few primitive books which they had, or did 
their daily stents in needlework. 

Many families laid in each winter a large supply of this 
candlewood, which for many years in the poorer homes all 
over New England was the common illuminant for the long 
winter evenings. 

One of the Pilgrim Fathers, writing in 1642, says of these 
candle-wood torches, “ Out of these Pines is gotten the candle- 
wood that is so much spoken of, which may serve as a shift 
among the poorer folks; but I cannot commend it for singular 
good, because it droppeth a pitchy kind of substance where it 
stands.” This form of lighting, however, seems to have been 
in general use for many years. It is said that Eliot, the apostle 


Collection of C. L. Cooney, Saugus 


PAAR O See page SI 


FINE WROUGHT IRON TABLE CANDLE 
STAND 


WROUGHT IRON HANGING CANDELABRUM 
FROM AN OLD VIRGINIA MANSION 


Collection of Clarence W. Brazer, Chester 


Pea er a7, See page go 


Collection of the Author 


ee Ep ANGE IRON “BETTY”? LAMPS See pages 14, 16 


Collection of C. L. Cooney, Saugus 


PLATE 9 See page 27 


PAIR OF RARE TIN THREE-WICK GUEST-ROOM LAMPS — ONE WITH SPICE-HOLDER 


EARLY COLONIAL LAMPS 13 


to the Indians, translated the Bible into the Indian tongue by 
the light of these pine torches. 

The very first Pilgrim lamps were the few brought over 
from England and the continent in the Mayflower and other 
ships, but the enterprise and spirit of independence so manifest 
in these sturdy pioneers soon asserted itself. Upon the dis- 
covery about 1630 of a deposit of bog iron some ten miles from 
Boston in that section of the country now within the limits of 
the town of Saugus, a primitive smelter was set up and the 
manufacture commenced of iron utensils such as pots, kettles, 
simple agricultural and carpenters’ tools, and, doubtless, 
“Betty ” lamps; for we find quite a variety of shapes in the 
various collections of these lamps which have been preserved. 

The house of the master of this earliest of New England 
foundries, which is still standing, is well worth visiting. 
Originally built in 1639, it was discovered and acquired a few 
years since by Mr. Wallace Nutting, a gentleman intensely 
interested in everything pertaining to early New England. At 
the time he bought it, many of its original lines had been 
changed —its sturdy hand-hewn oak frames covered with 
laths and plaster, its fireplaces bricked up, its old stairs removed, 
and many other changes made. With the help of competent 
architects and interested antiquarians, he made a careful study 
of the house to determine the original lines. After slow, deli- 
cate labor to uncover the original wood and brick work and to 
replace parts destroyed, he had the satisfaction of restoring 
_ © Broadhearth ”, as he called it, to something probably very 
like its original appearance both inside and out, so that to-day 
it stands as one of the best examples of very early American 
houses in New England. Since many of those early houses 
were destroyed in the numerous encounters with the Indians, 
doubtless the preservation of ‘‘ Broadhearth ” is due to the 
fact that, when the deposit of bog iron was discovered, a smelter 
set up, and operations begun, the iron master surrounded his 


14 COLONIAL LIGHT it 


house, which was most pretentious for that early date, with the 
dwellings of a small army of workmen sufficiently strong to 
ward off the predatory attacks of roving Indian bands. 

Mr. C. L. Cooney, a well-known collector and antiquarian 
of Boston, was its recent owner. He was fitting “ Broad- 
hearth ” out entirely with early New England furnishings from 
his large collection, aiming to preserve it as an educational 
specimen most valuable to the youth of to-day, but has recently 
died. An extended study of its interesting features, both out- 
side and within, will well repay any one interested in the social 
history of New England. 

Later than the development of Saugus iron, as ships brought 
supplies from England, tin was substituted for iron, since it 1s 
lighter, neater and more easily made. We find one pattern of 
lamp called the “ Ipswich Betty ” and another the “ Newbury- 
port Betty ”, from the settlements where they were made, both 
closely following the lines of the iron lamps. Some, instead 
of being made to hang like the iron “ Betty ”, were attached to 
stands and were even made adjustable so that the light could 
be moved up or down at the will of the reader. In Plate 17, 
Number 396, Doctor Norton shows a tin “ Betty ” similar in 
shape to the iron one in the writer’s collection (Plate 8). 

But in all the lamps the same objectionable open wick, which 
gave little light but much smoke and smell, prevailed; and the 
constant crusting over of the wick made the incessant use of the 
pick a very troublesome necessity. To overcome this trouble 
in some measure, an unknown but ingenious mechanic entirely 
enclosed the wick in a circular tube. The body of the lamp with 
the round nose or wick spout still at the side as shown in Plates 
10, 17, 29 and 51 was now made larger and deeper to hold 
more oil, and some lamps were furnished with two wicks, one 
on each side, thus doubling the light. | 

A rather curious feature of many of these lamps shows the 
habit of thrift even in so small a matter as the amount of oil — 


EARLY COLONIAL LAMPS 15 


a commodity although by no means scarce or expensive, at 
the same time not to be lightly wasted. This economical de- 
vice was an extra spout immediately beneath the wick spout 
proper. This curved tin gutter was intended to save the oil, 
which, drawn up by the wick faster than it could burn, dripped 
down over the edge of the nose, was caught by the projecting 
rim beneath, and was carried down underneath the main body 
of the lamp itself to a separate receptacle where it would be 
collected for use again. Since these lamps, as well as the iron 
and tin “‘ Bettys ”, are not at all common, they are well worth 
finding and collecting. 

An early step from this stage of lamp design was the placing 
of the wick tube upright on the top of the lamp. This form 
continued to be made for a long time. 

In the meantime, while these various changes had been 
taking place in the shape of the lamp itself, changes had also 
been made in the fluids used for fuel. At the very first the 
cil was tried out of the livers of the fish most conveniently at 
hand, with little or no attempt to refine it, but the very dis- 
agreeable odor and the insufficient amount of light given soon 
brought about a search for a more satisfactory illuminant. 

In the early days, whales were very abundant all along the 
New England coast. I do not know who first discovered the 
fact that the sperm and right whales yielded in great quantity 
an oil which made an excellent illuminant, but, beginning 
earlier than 1680 and continuing for nearly a hundred years, 
whale fishing carried on from the shore in small boats became 
a common and quite important industry of many towns all along 
the New England coast. Along toward the middle of the 
eighteenth century the whales became so scarce that it was 
necessary to employ larger vessels and go much farther away 
forthem. The whaling industry then became a very important 
one for a number of New England seaports and entered so 
much into every day life that at least one of the old fishing 


16 COLONIAL LIGH Tike 


villages on Cape Cod in town meeting passed an ordinance 
that the heads of all whales captured by the townspeople should 
be given the minister. The little town of Nantucket, on the 
island of that name just off the southern coast of Massachu- 
setts, from about 1700 to 1758, it is stated, “ had more vessels 
employed in whaling than any other New England port.” 
Later, however, New Bedford came to the front and held the 
supremacy for many years, until the discovery and introduc- 
tion of kerosene as an illuminant lessened the demand for the 
sperm oil. | 

One interesting and significant feature of all “ Betty ” and 
“ Phoebe ” lamps is the similarity of design, a point illustrated 
clearly by Plate 4, showing iron lamps from Doctor Norton’s 
collection. Numbers 72 and 73 vary from the usual “ Betty ” 
form in that each has a double base, doubtless to catch the drip- 
pings from the burning wick. This design is commonly called 
the “ Phoebe ” lamp. The two reproduced are old specimens 
from Normandy, whereas Number 60 is said to have been 
found in a mountain cave in Armenia and is thought to be even 
older. Number 168, an iron hanging lamp dating back more 
than three centuries, came from a small town in Italy. Al- 
though found in widely separated parts of the world, all these 
lamps are identical in size, shape, and burning arrangement. 

The three New England “ Betty ” lamps in the author’s 
collection, shown in Plate 8, though similar in size and general 
appearance, illustrate some differences. The perfect one,. hav- 
ing the staple to hang it by as well as the wick pick, is almost 
identical in shape with the famous Governor Carver lamp, a 
drawing of which is on page 11. In this lamp an opening in the 
centre of the top is covered by a sliding iron plate. The lid of 
the iron lamp with a slightly rounded bottom covers the entire 
top and hinges at the base of the curved handle so that it lifts 
up and down instead of sliding sideways. The hanging staple 
in this lamp is much larger than that of the first lamp and the 


; 


. 
, 


Collection of Henry Ford, Michigan 


EAS OR) See pages I4, 30, 31 


EAREY LAMPS IN COPPER, TIN, BRASS AND EARTHENWARE 


Collection of Henry Ford, Michigan 


Peer ti) rr See page 30 


BARLY “LAMPS IN TIN, TRON AND PEWTER 


Collection of Francis D. Brinton, West Chester, Pennsylvania 
LEAT Ea See pages 87, 89 


BEAUTIFUL WROUGHT IRON CANDLE STAND WITH 
EXTINGUISHER AND SNUFFERS 


a 
4 


Pam y COLONIAL LAMPS 17 


stem of it is twisted in a crude attempt at ornamentation. The 
third lamp, probably of a later date, is more carefully made. 
The bottom and top of the body, which is box-shaped, were 
cast separately and riveted together. The curved handle is also 
riveted on. The cover is unlike either of the other two in that 
it is hinged across the middle. All these lamps have circular 
openings cut out for the wick and each of the first two has a 
separate lip or spout, quite noticeable, for the wick to lie in. 
The chain and pick of this last lamp evidently do not belong to 
it. 

Plate 4, Number 157 shows still another variation of the 
“Betty.” This specimen, found in old Quebec, has, instead 
of the usual curved handle, a straight back with openings 
through which may run an upright rod controlled by a spring 
so that the lamp may be raised or lowered at the reader’s con- 
venience. But toa New Englander by far the most interesting 
lamp on this page is Number 100 in the centre of the lower 
row. Cast from heavy iron in the form of a cup and saucer 
with places for wicks in both the cup and base and with an iron 
handle to carry it by, this. lamp is authentically reported to 
have been cast at the Saugus iron foundry and to have been 
used in 1692 during that strange and dark period in early New 
England history marked by “ witchcraft” in Salem. The 
rude severity of this lamp well symbolizes the uncanny events 
of which it was a witness. In Plate 45 appears a somewhat 
similar grease lamp of cast iron, also connected with Salem 
witchcraft; for it is believed to have been used in the Salem 
prison during the trial and imprisonment of those accused. It 
stands about six inches high and holds in a little lip the wick 
of twisted rag. 

Being myself a native of Salem and accustomed to see fre- 
quently Gallows Hill where the executions took place, I have 
taken some pains to acquaint myself with the history of that 
period and with the scenes brought vividly to mind by these 


18 COLONIAL LIGHTIMG 


lamps as connecting links between the present and that in- 
glorious past. 

There are several facts which should be taken into account 
when considering how such an hysteria or insanity could have 
spread so rapidly and taken such an extraordinary hold upon 
entire communities of sober, industrious, upright, God-fear- 
ing and intelligent people. | 

The colonists after undergoing in their home country perse- 
cutions, many of them most bitter, had established themselves 
in a new and strange land; surrounded by deep, heavy forests 
in which were wild animals and wilder and fiercer savage 
foes; obliged to endure untold hardships of privation, disease, 
hunger, biting cold, and ruthless attack; burdened with heavy 
taxes; thrown into dismay and uncertainty of their future by the 
loss of their charter; and their coast settlements invested by 
hostile sea-pirates and privateers so that commerce was nearly 
at a standstill. The colony was in just the mental condition to 
be swept by the fear of witchcraft, a belief in which was com- 
mon in England and on the Continent for centuries. The mis- 
chief began early in 1692 in the family of the Reverend Mr. 
Parris, the minister in charge of the religious society in what 
was then Salem Village, now a part of Danvers. His daughter 
and niece, together with a young girl of the neighborhood 
named Ann Putnam — three children from ten to fifteen years 
old — began to act in a strange manner, putting themselves in 
odd postures, making queer gestures and noises, and attracting 
the attention of the family. There seemed to be no explana- 
tion and physicians were called in. One of them in an evil 
hour gave it as his opinion that the children were bewitched — 
that is, they were in the power of some one who had sold herself 
to the evil one or Satan. The belief that such bargains were 
possible was by no means uncommon in England and scattered 
examples of witchcraft had already been found in the new 
colony here. Some one or two other young girls of the neigh- 


BomtsyY COLONIAL LAMPS 19 


borhood began to exhibit similar traits. The Reverend Parris 
called a council of the neighboring ministers to devote a day to 
religious services that the power of the evil one might be over- 
come. During these exercises the children had frequent and 
violent convulsive fits. 

The news of this peculiar behavior spread rapidly and many 
came to witness the strange sights. When the public had been 
wrought up sufficiently to demand public investigation, the 
children, after having been asked repeatedly to name the 
person or persons attacking them, were forced to designate their 
supposed persecutors. The first accused or, as the phrase of 
those days was, “ cried out upon ”, was an old West Indian * 
woman, a servant in the Parris family. An account reads: 
“‘ By operating upon the old creature’s fears and imagination, 
and, as there is some reason to apprehend, by using severe 
treatment toward her, she was made to confess that the charge 
was true and that she was in league with the devil.” 

We can easily imagine the effect of this confession on the 
public mind. The suspicious and credulous were confirmed in 
their belief, the more suggestible developed in their fright 
symptoms of nervous disorder that were interpreted as evidence 
that they were bewitched, and those with serious doubts were 
usually not courageous enough to stand against popular opinion, 
though some, notably the minister of the Old South Church in 
Boston, the Reverend Samuel Willard, and one or two of the 
judges expressed their disbelief and disapproval of the pro- 
ceedings. 

Accusations against others quickly followed, and those ac- 
cused were at once thrown into prison so that the jails of Salem, 

1 An authority on colonial history made the claim recently that the Indian 
woman referred to was an “ East” Indian, though without documentary evidence 
to prove the statement. All the old accounts and original manuscripts simply say 
“an Indian woman in Mr. Parris’ family.” Woodward in his “ Witchcraft De- 
lusion in New England” quotes this passage from Hanson’s “‘ History of Danvers ” 
in a footnote: “An Indian woman named Titubba (Titiba or Titibe) said to have 
been a slave formerly in New Spain (WestIndies) ... When arrested and 


searched, the marks on her body produced by the sting of the Spaniard’s whip were 
said to be made by the Devil.” 


20 COLONIAL LIGHT 


Boston, Cambridge, and other towns were crowded with sup- 
posed witches. | 

Some unfortunately, to save their lives, confessed that the 
charges were true, which only added fuel to the fire now 
freely burning. 

Every man’s life was at the mercy of every other man, and 
many a private grudge was promptly indulged. 

One account adds: “ Fear sat on every countenance, terror 
and distress were in all hearts; silence pervaded the streets; 
many of the people left the country; all business was at a stand, 
and the feeling, dismal and horrible indeed, became general 
that the providence of God was removed from them and that 
they were given over to the dominion of Satan.” 

The arrests were not confined to the poor and unfortunate 
but included some in the highest walks, among them a Mrs. 
English, the wife of a Salem merchant of great wealth, whose 
accusers acted, it has been implied, through social jealousy. 
One of the judges was accused and also a member of the imme- 
diate family of Doctor Increase Mather, the famous divine, at 
that time president of Harvard College. Reverend George 
Burroughs of Wells was not only imprisoned, tried and con- 
victed, but suffered death rather than increase the dangerous 
delusion by confessing himself guilty of the crime. 

Considering the state of the public mind, it is greatly to the 
credit of the courts that, of the innumerable persons accused, 
only twenty met their deaths. Nineteen were hanged; one, 
Giles Corey, was pressed to death; but none was burned as 
many people believe to this day. 

Not all of them came from Salem — though court was held 
there — but from Andover, Ipswich, Marblehead, Topsfield, 
and other towns. Most of the persons executed were of ad- 
vanced age and some left large families of children. Some of 
the accused fled the country before they could be apprehended 
and a few escaped from jail. One young man effected his 


From the Worcester Historical Society Collection of B. N. Gates, Worcester 


Pid Loe 79 See pages 94, 95 


INTERESTING IRON TRAMMEL CANDLE HOLDER WITH 
ADJUSTABLE ARM 


UNUSUAL TIN CANDLE STAND FOR FIVE CANDLES 


Worcester 


ates, 


G 


Burton N 


ton of 


ect 


Coll 


See pages 58, 89 


ONE OF IRON 


PLATE r4 


>} 


STANDS — TWO OF "WOoOp 


THREE EARLY CANDLE 


a 


EARLY COLONIAL LAMPS 21 


mother’s escape and fled with her on horseback to conceal her in 
a large swamp near what is now Danvers, where he fed her and 
cared for her until the danger was passed and it was safe to 
bring her home. 

The wicked spell was, however, broken when Mrs. Hale, 
the wife of the minister of the First Church of Beverly, was 
accused. She was a woman of such noble character and dis- 
tinguished virtues that she had endeared herself to the whole 
community, so that when she was made a victim it caused a 
storm of protest. Many were convinced that the accusers had 
deluded themselves, and from that moment the storm sub- 
sided as rapidly as it rose. 

In addition to the twenty who lost their lives — Reverend 
George Burroughs of Wells, Samuel Wardwell of Andover, 
Wilmot Reed of Marblehead, Margaret Scott of Rowley, 
Susanna Martin of Amesbury, Elizabeth How of Ipswich, 
Sarah Wildes and Mary Easty of Topsfield, Martha Carrier 
and Mary Parker of Andover, John Proctor, John Willard, 
Sarah Good, Rebecca Nurse and Martha Corey of Salem Vil- 
lage, George Jacobs, Jr., Alice Parker, Ann Pudeater, Bridget 
Bishop (alias Oliver) and Giles Corey of Salem — eight 
women were in prison condemned to die, more than fifty others 
had escaped death only by confessing themselves guilty, one 


hundred and fifty more were in prison awaiting trial, and some 


two hundred more had been accused. All these in jail, includ- 
ing those condemned to death, were released. It is the opinion 
popularly accepted to-day that the children began in a spirit of 
mischief, perhaps with a fancied grudge against certain persons 
in view, and upon seeing the credulity of their parents and 
neighbors and that they were the center of so much attention, 
kept on in a spirit of bravado; but this explanation alone is 


wholly inadequate. 


It is by no means certain that the children were shamming 
even at first. Hysteria and temporary insanity are not un- 


22 COLONIAL LIGH Tita 


known in adolescent children to-day. In that day and in a 
community in its third generation of constant danger without 
and religious tension within, such nervous disorders were to be 
expected. Developed in one child, the symptoms would spread 
irresistibly by imitation to her playmates and would be exagger- 
ated as they spread. 

Supposing for a moment that the first symptoms were not 
hysterical but merely child’s play, possibly some tricks of magic 
learned from the West Indian woman; what child of ten could 
fail to become hysterical when grave elders and authoritative 
doctors told her that she was certainly in the power of witches? 
The subsequent treatment of the children was enough to drive 
them to worse madness than pointing out the person they knew 
who was most like what they imagined a witch to be. The 
subsequent exhibition of the children to the most impressionable 
was enough to spread the hysteria. No one acquainted with the 
time and place can doubt that it was a fertile field for crowd 
insanity. No one who reads contemporary accounts can doubt 
that something very real and very serious ailed the victims. 
The cause is a different question. 

In all fairness it must be remembered that as long as a 
popular belief in witchcraft prevailed, unscrupulous persons 
were likely to be found who made use of this belief by pre- 
tending to supernatural powers and by using the influence they 
thus obtained as best suited their purposes. Some of these 
“witches ” were of course deluded by the theories of the day, 
their own thaumaturgy, and the behavior of their victims to 
suppose that they were actually in league with the powers of 
evil. And so they were as far as their purposes were malevo- 
lent. Incidentally the Calvinist doctrine of predestination to 
be damned tended to thrust the unbalanced toward diabolism. 
The law of to-day like the law of yesterday recognizes that 
those who pretend to exercise the power of magic should be 
punished, though the Biblical penalty is no longer the legal 


BARLY COLONIAL LAMPS 233 


one. Whether any person or persons in Salem practiced witch- 
craft in this sense is probably open to doubt. That many were 
really suspected and that any who were guilty deserved punish- 
ment is not doubtful at all. The proceedings of the Salem court 
cannot be labeled hysterical and malicious any more than the 
danger to the community can be labeled child’s play. Court 
records and contemporary history as well as the small number 
of executions in proportion to the number of indictments in- 
dicate cautious procedure. Furthermore, by excluding spectral 
evidence the Salem court established a precedent that was 
followed by European courts and did more than anything else 
to end prosecutions for witchcraft throughout the world. 

It is worth recording that, after the reign of terror had 
passed, many who had been most active in their prosecutions 
repented of their folly and did all in their power to make 
amends to those who had been accused but afterward released. 

Judge Sewall of Boston, one of the judges on the bench at 
the trials, during the remainder of his life annually spent a 
day of fasting, humiliation and prayer in his own home, and 
on the day set for the general fast, had read from the pulpit 
of the Old South Church where he worshipped (he himself 
stood during the reading) a confession of his error in these 
cases and prayed the forgiveness of God and the people for 
the part which he unwittingly had taken in the condemnation 
of the innocent. So ends a very sad chapter in Massachusetts 
history, caught sight of by the flicker of a long-extinguished 
lamp. 

Iron lamps seem not to have remained long in favor; at any 
rate, genuine old specimens are quite rare and hard to find. 
They were soon superseded by tin lamps, made in infinite vari- 
ety until well into the beginning of the nineteenth century. 
They were easily made, durable, efficient, and inexpensive. 
All of these qualities recommended them for common use so 
that even when, after a time, more elaborate glass lamps, 


24 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


candlesticks and candelabra came into favor, they never quite 
forced out the tin lamps for common use. ? 

One very interesting thing about collecting lamps, especially — 
tin, pewter, and glass, is the great variety in design and often 
ingenuity exhibited in their manufacture. Since they were 
made during a long period, something like two hundred years, 
it is often very difficult, sometimes impossible, to give an ap- 
proximate idea of their age unless one is fortunate enough to 
be personally acquainted with the history of the particular speci- 
men. Asa general rule the first ones made naturally followed 
closely the lines of the “ Betty ” lamps. 

One very odd and ingenious tin lamp in my possession is 
illustrated in Plate 29, the left-hand lamp in the top row. I 
have seen only a few like it and there is no mention of any 
such lamp in Doctor Norton’s collection, so I judge it must be 
quite uncommon. The center cylinder, which has a tin handle 
and rests in a saucer-like base, is fitted with a threaded shaft 
running through, and protruding from, the top. This shaft 
has a tight, heavy piece of leather at the top of the cylinder, 
fitting snugly. At the bottom, and connecting with it, is a 
smaller cylinder, oval in form, which contains the wick — 
a flat wide one. The large cylinder was filled with oil, or per- 
haps some semiliquid fat like chicken grease; the top was then 
put on and the oil or fat, feeding down through the bottom 
into the side cylinder, was there picked up by the wick to feed 
the flame. If the oil did not feed freely enough, the top 
protruding from the large cylinder (the end of which was 
squared to fit a clock key) was turned, forcing the tight 
leather plunger or head down into the cylinder and conse- 
quently forcing the fat or oil through the bottom into the sec- 
ond cylinder, high enough for the wick to suck it up. In cer- 
tain country districts where cheese was made, after the cheese 
had been put in the press there was a liquid residue containing 
much butter fat. This fat was carefully removed, clarified, 


Collection of Henry Ford, Michigan 


Pla LE rs THREE PRIMITIVE IRON GREASE LAMPS 


Collection of Henry Ford, Michigan 


Se AlE 16 THREE CANDLE LAMPS ee page 10? 


SdNVI NIL ATUVA AO dNOUAO 


AI- a Riel ad 


psofjAD HT ‘U0jAON 'O*V “DO 40720 fo uo1221/0) 


EARLY COLONIAL LAMPS 25 


and used in broad-wicked lamps called “ whey butter lamps.” 
It is quite possible that this lamp is one of them. 

The two similar tin lamps, called sometimes shop lamps, one 
in the lower left-hand corner of Plate 51 and the other the 
right-hand one in the upper row of Plate 29 in the writer’s pos- 
session, are early specimens and interesting in having drip pans 
to allow the superfluous oil to run into the separate removable 
compartments. One is a hanging lamp and the other sits in a 
tin plate with a turned up edge. 

One occasionally runs across some piece which is quite 
strange and unusual. One afternoon while I was visiting Mr. 
C. L. Cooney, who was a very enthusiastic and well-informed 
collector, he showed me the curious lamp shown in Plate 57. 
This lamp is striking in design, workmanship, and material, 
because it is fashioned from copper —a rather rare metal in 
early lamps. The lamp is very old, but beautifully made. It 
consists of a long shallow box, divided by partitions into eight 
small compartments of equal size; over each compartment in 
the hinged cover is fitted a small wick tube holding a wick run- 
ning down into the box beneath. The story is that this lamp 
was used by the early Jesuit missionaries among the Indians. 
These devout and self-sacrificing men, in order to teach the 
Indian converts the efficacy of prayer, divided these lamps into 
separate compartments, each of the same size, holding the same 
quantity of oil, thus signifying that every soul had the same 
value in God’s sight. Each person was assigned a separate wick, 
the chiefs always the first and last fonts. Prayers were said 
while the lamps burned until each oil font was exhausted. 
This lamp, said to be the only one of its kind in existence, was 
formerly in the possession of Archbishop Burke of Albany, 
New York. In both design and material it is strikingly like the 
old Hanukkah lamps used by the Jews in their festival. Pos- 
sibly the Jesuit missionaries came into possession of one of 

them and adapted it to their own needs in their work among 


26 COLONIAL LIGH Dias 


the Indians. ‘This rare and valuable piece links the present to 
that distant past when, for the faith, devout men both Catholic 
and Protestant, literally took their lives in their hands to plunge 
into that vast and uncharted wilderness inhabited by savage 
Indians, in order that the Gospel might be brought to them. 
Could this lamp talk, it would doubtless tell many tales of al- 
most incredible hardships endured by these faithful Jesuits, 
and of beautiful self-sacrifice and devotion to the tenets of their 
Church. This rare lamp should some day come to its final 
resting place among the hallowed relics of the Roman Catholic 
Church. 

In Plate 1 is a group of iron lamps on a table equally inter- 
esting and rare, the property of Mr. B. N. Gates of Worcester. 
It is an example of the trestle-table, or candle-stand, and prob- 
ably dates from the seventeenth century, so it is quite in the 
period of the lamps it holds, wonderfully fine and perfect 
pieces. The first on the left is of course a “ Betty ” of wrought 
iron. The workmanship is noticeably good: it has a hinged 
cover, and though it has no pick like that on the lamp of similar 
design in the author’s collection, the staple to suspend the lamp 
from the logs of the walls or the stones of the fireplace is of 
the exact length to use as a wick pick. Whether this peculiarity 
of design was intentional or only a coincidence, nevertheless it 
is an interesting fact. 

The second specimen is an iron rush-light holder, descrip- 
tions of which will be taken up in the chapter devoted to candles 
and candlesticks. This holder also is a fine piece of iron work, 
probably made in England, although equally good work of a 
similar character was turned out from the forges of many New 
England blacksmith-shops. ; 

The third lamp is as fine an instance as I have ever seen of 
the extremely rare double “ Betty ”, or, as it was often called, 
“ Phoebe ” lamp. The top part, or lamp proper, slides up and 
down on the flat iron upright and can be detached. In fact, 


EARLY COLONIAL LAMPS As 


when Mr. Gates bought it, it had been put on the handle, back 
side to, and also used as a lamp, making two suspended from 
the one handle. These lamps are much cruder and more simple 
than the regular “ Bettys ” and have no cover or wick trough, 
the twisted rag serving as a wick simply lying in the nose. 
There is nice work here in the end of the handle and in the 
slender iron rod with the shepherd’s crook, which was used for 
suspending it from wall or chair back. 

The last lamp on this Plate 1 is a more clumsily wrought 
iron “ Betty ” : its shape is not graceful and the curved handle 
is too short and light. The wooden turned stand of maple is 
the original and was found in either North or South Caro- 
lina. | 

A very curious and rare pair of tin lamps is shown in Plate 
9 from Mr. C. L. Cooney’s collection. Although there is noth- 
ing graceful or beautiful about them — in fact they resemble 
a steam boiler in miniature — they illustrate a rare type of 
early New England guest-room lamp. Alike, except for the 
flat tin plate suspended over one end of one of the lamps, they 
were used in the guest chamber, and, with the three wicks 
burning at the same time, must have given a fairly adequate 
amount of light. When the host wished to pay especial atten- 
tion to the guest, he placed some spices or sweet smelling herbs 


‘on the shallow tin saucer directly over the flame from one of 


the lamps, so that the smoke from this incense might perfume 
the room and no doubt hide partly at least the smoke and odor 
from the burning whale oil. 

Plate 25 is a photograph of a fascinating iron grease lamp 
in the collection of Doctor Robert E. Sievers of Bordentown, 
New Jersey. It has an open top with two well-marked lips, 
from which the wicks protruded. The lamp proper sits on a 
pedestal rising from a shallow saucer and is further supported 
by a round straight brace, from the bottom of the grease lamp 
to the edge of the base, which was used as a handle in carry- 


28 COLONES LIGHTING 


ing. Acrudely made design of considerable ingenuity, it prob- 
ably was the work of some early iron-moulder who evolved 
the idea from his own brain and cast a few for local distribu- 
tion. 

Such odd lamps as these add unusual variety to a collection 
and are consequently highly prized whenever found. 

Another equally curious and very rare lamp, which is shown 
in Plate 23, really belongs to this group though its material is 
common earthenware or pottery. This lamp, the prized pos- 
session of a Pennsylvania collector, Mr. Francis D. Brinton of 
West Chester, was undoubtedly made in one of the Dutch pot- 
teries in that state. It is described as of a particularly rich and 
lustrous dark brown glaze, with a very luminous surface, as 
the photograph clearly shows. Its shape is particularly inter- 
esting. The top or lamp proper with its snugly fitting cover 
and neat knob follows closely the lines of a teapot, which, it is 
evident, suggested the design to its potter. The bottom is 
elongated quite a bit and terminates in a broad saucer with a 
sharply upturned edge. The handle is of wholesome size. It 
is of course a grease lamp, the wick coming out of the spout and 
the lamp being filled from the top like a teapot. It is in per- 
fect condition except that the tip of the nose where the wick 
burned is much charred from the flame, the pottery composi- 
tion being unable to withstand the constant burning as metal 
does. The splendid condition of the glaze speaks well for its 
eood workmanship. The lamp now has a place. of honor in a 
fine old house in Pennsylvania and is highly prized by its 
owner. 

Another exceedingly interesting lamp is shown in Plate 18 
from the collection of Mr. C. L. Cooney. I have never seen 
or heard of one like it, nor had Mr. Cooney in his long years 
as a collector and dealer seen another. It is a double “ Betty ” 
lamp, most beautifully hand wrought. Unfortunately the 
photograph does not give one a good idea of its beauty of work- 


Collection of C. L. Cooney, Saugus Collection of Horace R. Grant, Hartford 


PU Sala OS AO rags te} wee pare2o PLATE zo See page 52 


’ 


(3 a9 
VERY RARE DOUBLE IRON ~ BETTY BRASS CAMPHENE LAMP, TINY“WHALE- 
OIL LAMP AND EXTINGUISHER IN 
TIN 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem Collection of C. L. Cooney, Saugus 

Ret ti 20 See page 29 Pigg oeeek See page 52 

TIN “BETTY” LAMP WITH TIN BRASS HANGING THREE-BURNER SHIP 
STAND OR FACTORY LAMP 


* 


a 


Collection of B. N. Gates, Worcester 


Pian bin ae See page ST 


SHOWING THE USE OF THE SPUR AT THE TOP OF THE OLD 
IRON CANDLESTICKS TO HANG ON THE LADDER- 
BACK CHAIRS 


rr ee 


EARLY COLONIAL LAMPS 29 


manship. It is hung from an iron staple like an ordinary 
“ Betty ”, but the lamp itself consists of two iron bodies joined 
at the back, each having its separate oil receptacle, wick nozzle, 
and sliding cover. The effect of the whole is very artistic and 
graceful. 

A fine specimen of the early tin “ Betty ” on its tin stand 
is shown in Plate 20. This tin “ Ipswich Betty ” is in excellent 
condition except that the original staple seems to have been 
lost and replaced at some later date with a poor substitute made 
of twisted wire. The most striking thing in this photograph is 
the very interesting tin “tidy-top” or stand on which the 
lamp proper rests. The deep, wide, flat base was kept filled 
with sand. The hollow tin upright is joined to the curved 
support for the tin top on one side and the tin handle for car- 
rying on the other. 

Although neither iron nor tin but pewter, the lamp shown 
in Plate 66 and very similar to one or two in Doctor Norton’s 
collection really belongs in this chapter, for it is a very early 
variant of the “ Betty.” The shallow, cup-like font holds the 
oil in which floats the loosely woven wick of twisted cotton. 
The drip pan is half way down the long standard and the base 
is large and heavy enough to prevent its being easily tipped. 
Note the graceful handle and the pick hanging from the knob 
on the top. This lamp undoubtedly is of English or German 
make; for probably few if any lamps of this type were made 
here, although the design was in use about the time of the 
departure of the Pilgrims and for some years after. The few 
specimens were undoubtedly brought over by the earlier set- 
tlers, but they are almost impossible to find at the present time 
in American collections. 

I have recently been forwarded some prints from Mr. 
Henry Ford, of Dearborn, Michigan, who has a collection of 
lighting devices particularly rich in odd, very early pieces. 
Plate 15 shows a group of three in iron of the earliest grease- 


30 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


lamp type. On the left is the prototype of the “ Betty ”—a 
shallow saucer slightly elongated on one side with a very crude 
hanging handle opposite — an attempt at a lamp much more 
crude than the very ancient ones in Plate 2. The one at the 
right is even more primitive, a shallow, round iron plate with 
the edges bent over to form four shallow gutters, in any one 
or all of which wicks may be placed, the ends floating in the 
oil or grease in the center. 

The middle one is an early “ Phoebe ” lamp with its double 
lamp base. (An interesting group of very primitive iron light- 
ing devices which were soon superseded by much more useful 
and dependable types but which possess a great interest to the 
collector.) As these were at their best makeshift devices, very 
few are found to-day. I am told that one is more apt to find 
them in the South where the scattered colored population con- 
tinued to use them for many years. 

Plate 10 and Plate 11 are from the same collection and show 
a varied group of early lamps, all of which are interesting and 
well worthy of close study by the collector. Made in a variety 
of material, they exhibit a greater variation in design. In 
Plate 11 the first in tin on the left is perhaps the more familiar, 
with its saucer base and upright with the flat-sided oil font on 
top. The next is an unusual lamp in iron, its flat-sided, open- 
top oil font swinging from side pivots and mounted on a slen- 
der, graceful iron stand rising from a broad flat base. 

The third lamp in pewter is of a design more or less familiar 
to collectors of early lamps, but in this there seems to be a tube 
for an upright wick in the center of the open oil font instead of 
the usual arrangement of a wick lying in an open trough at 
the side. 

The last lamp, also of pewter, is perhaps the most interest- 
ing of all. Of a very unusual shape, the wick tube coming from 
the side of the globular font holding the oil and the glass lens to 
magnify the flame, evidently indicating that it is a reading 


Poel Y COLONIAL LAMPS 31 


lamp, make a unique combination which I have never seen 
before. | 

The second group (Plate 10) is equally interesting though 
quite different from the first plate. Four lamps in four dif- 
ferent materials, all of different designs, but all constructed 
upon the same simple principle. The taller at the left is made 
of copper, a rather rare metal in lamps of so early a date, and 
has the overflow trough quite separated from the main wick 
spout. The general design of the second is somewhat similar 
but carried out in tin. The wick tube at the side is long and has 
the drip gutter fitting very snugly. The third, of brass, is a 
kind of glorified “ Betty ” with its handle and hanging staple. 
The long curved wick spout with its enlarged lip at the end is 
a curious addition making it altogether an interesting piece. 
The fourth, however, is the gem of the lot, a fine specimen of 
that very rare article, an earthenware grease lamp. Of the 
very early open type, with the lip on the side for the twisted 
rag wick and its two-handled standard on the flat base, moulded 
of the dark brown pottery which the early Dutch settlers of 
Pennsylvania made so well, it is, in its perfect condition, a piece 
which any collector would be proud to own. 


CHAPTER III 
LATER TIN, PEWTER, AND BRASS LAMPS 


I sarp in a previous chapter that iron lamps, being clumsy 
and heavy, were made for only a short time and were soon 
supplanted by lamps of tin and pewter. At first the tin lamps 
closely followed the lines of the iron ones. Gradually the 
colonies of settlers increased, more houses were built, and 
larger tracts of land brought under cultivation. The immedi- 
ate needs of the colonists for food and shelter having been 
provided for, attention was given to the various conveniences 
of the home and then the real development of the lamp began. 

In Plates 29 and 51 are shown two tin lamps from the 
author’s collection with round wick spouts coming out of the 
sides. In Plate 17, from Doctor Norton’s collection, the cen- 
tral lamp in the top row has a double wick and a handle for 
hanging. This type is sometimes known as a factory or shop 
lamp and is interesting because the drip pans are placed under- 
neath the nozzles. On the same plate, Figures 422 and 423 
show two tin lamps of the early “ Betty ” type, one of them 
with an upright standard upon which the lamp proper may 
slide, adjusting the light to the correct height for the reader’s 
eyes. Number 423 was brought from England in 1630 by an 
ancestor of Doctor Norton’s. The other, Number 422, is a 
fine “ Ipswich Betty.” Similar lamps were made by a tinsmith 
in Newburyport about 1680. 

This specimen has the wick pick attached to it and stands 
on what was known as a tidy-top, a plate with fluted and up- 
turned edges into which the lamp proper fitted. All stand on 
a tall base of tin which was commonly weighted with sand. 


Collection of Francis D. Brinton, West Chester, Pa. 


pete [i 29 See page 28 


Fe 


G 


RARE PENNSYLVANIA POTTERY 
GREASE LAMP 


ollection of Doctor Robert E. Sievers, Bordentown, N.J. 


Peet 25 See page 27 


Pani y IRON OPEN GREASE LAMP 


Collection of Francis D, Brinton, West Chester, Pa. 


JEBEL 


WALL SCONCE FOR SINGLE CANDLE 
WITH FIVE TIN «REFLECTORS 
IN WOODEN FRAME 


Photograbh by Miss M. H. Norihend, Salem 


PLATTE See page 42 


PEWTER BULL S-EYE READING LAMP 
WITH DOUBLE LENS. FRONT AND 
SIDE VIEW 


Hartford 


Collection of Doctor C. A. Q. Norton, 


PLATE 27 


See pages 30, 38, 39 40, fl 


GROUP OF PEWTER LAMPS 


eee WV TER, AND BRASS LAMPS § 33 


There are several other interesting lamps on this page, most 

of which are quite unusual and hard to find. In fact, good 
types of all old tin lamps are now rarely found and are soon 
snapped up by eager collectors. Number 416 on this plate is 
an old, tin, whaler’s lamp, which must have acquired its sea 
legs many years ago, since it undoubtedly went on many a long 
voyage, and must have seen some interesting sights and could 
probably tell some thrilling tales of the sea. It swings on 
pivots at the sides and has a tin handle at the base. The shape 
of the font is interesting. This lamp was taken from the old 
ship South America, which the Government bought in 1861 
and sunk at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, 
to prevent the use of the port by the Confederate blockade- 
runners. 
_ Number 402 is called a petticoat-lamp. Another lamp of 
the same type owned by the author is illustrated in Plate 29. 
A different view of the same lamp in the lower right-hand cor- 
ner of Plate 30 gives one a glimpse of the underside of the 
lamp, showing the peg socket underneath the petticoat. It is 
said that by this arrangement the lamp was secured on a side 
upright of the high ladder or bannister-back chair then in use, 
thus placing the light in such a position as to be most advanta- 
geous to the reader sitting in the chair. 

Number 56 on Plate 17 was one of Doctor Norton’s prized 
possessions; for it was representative of an interesting and un- 
usual type. But association with its celebrated owner has made 
it more valuable. It was of a late model, made probably about 
the middle of the nineteenth century, and shows quite clearly 
that the fertile brains of many a lamp maker had studied and 
worked to evolve from the primitive type lamps of greater 
power and usefulness. One of the intensely interesting things 
about collecting lamps is the astonishing number of variations 
and improvements which have appeared from time to time; 
in fact, it is fairly difficult to get two lamps either in 


34 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


tin, pewter, or glass which match exactly. Number 56 has 
two broad, flat wicks in a drum-shaped font, which was filled 
with lard oil, a fuel oil used somewhat extensively in New 
England about 1850. This drum font, pivoted for ease in fill- 
ing and cleaning, had a large adjustable tin reflector behind it. 
Supported on a substantial square base, this lamp must have fur- 
nished quite a respectable light. It was one of a pair which was 
used by Noah Webster while compiling his famous dictionary 
and lighted his arduous and painstaking work through many a 
midnight hour. It was secured from his old home in Amherst, 
Massachusetts, in 1852. . 

Number 87 on this same plate of Doctor Norton’s is another” 
odd and interesting specimen, again showing the often very in- 
genious changes which different makers employed in order to 
improve their wares. This is also a lamp for lard oil, and has 
a curious shaped, hinged oil font on an upright short base. It 
was found in the mansion of General Knox at Thomaston, 
Maine. General Knox was one of the outstanding men of 
Washington’s time. Born in Boston and being of a patriotic 
nature he became interested in military affairs at the outset of 
the Colonies’ struggle to shake off the yoke of England, and 
joined the militia. He became an officer of artillery, attracted 
the attention of General Washington by his competent work 
during the siege of Boston, and took part in many of the Rev- 
olutionary battles. Possessing Washington’s friendship, he 
rose in the army to a position of importance and responsibility. 
He was a member of the court-martial which tried Major 
André; later was appointed the commander of West Point, and, 
under Washington’s command, superintended the disbanding 
and dispersion of the Continental armies at the close of the war. 

When Washington was elected the first President of the 
Republic, General Knox became his Secretary of War, which 
position he held for six years. He finally retired from public 
life and settled in Maine, where he did in 1806. 


aoe ew TER, AND BRASS LAMPS 35 


Number 89 on this Plate 17 of Doctor Norton’s lamps is al- 
most exactly like one in the writer’s possession as illustrated in 
Plate 29. The lamp itself is quite shallow with a single wick; 
but over it, ingeniously hinged to the loop handle, is a top or 
chimney with a small mica or isinglass window in the front. 
The chimney protects from drafts the tiny flame that filters 
through the mica window. The writer has seen a lamp that 
differs from this in that it has three oval isinglass windows in- 
stead of the one square one and an arrangement for locking 
the chimney. In Plate 30 may be seen one of these lamps with 
the chimney turned back. 

Collecting these early tin lamps is good sport, for they are 
not as common as their cheapness might seem to indicate. 
Varied in ingenious and interesting ways by craftsmen who 
often changed the pattern according to personal whim or fancy; 
cheapened by the neglect of collectors who have passed them 
by for wares more showy; tucked away in corners of little coun- 
try antique shops—these lamps are game worth hunting. 
The successful hunter may walk out of the shop after bagging 
such a lamp with a very pleasant thrill of pride, particularly 
if the price is low. 

During those first bitter years, when so many succumbed to 
privations and disease in the Plymouth colony that, in order 
to hide from the Indians how decimated the little band had be- 
come, they buried their dead secretly and planted corn over 
the graves, all the energy of the colonies was given to provid- 
ing the barest necessities. As the settlements became larger 
and more successful in fighting the climate and the Indians, 
more attention was paid to refinements such as were enjoyed in 
the mother country. The household utensils at first were of 
the crudest and simplest. One or two iron pots swinging on a 
crane in the big open fireplace, and a few wooden plates or 
trenchers upon which the family meal was served, comprised 
the simple equipment of the ordinary home. The more well- 


36 COLONIAL LIGHT is 


to-do had in addition a few pewter plates or platters which 
they had brought with them from England. As supplies ar- 
rived and the colonists found themselves in better condition 
financially, pewter gradually came to take the place of the rude 
home-made wooden dishes. It was not until many years later 
that the manufacture of earthenware and porcelain dishes com- 
menced in England, so that pewter was the general table ware. 
Pewter is an alloy of lead, tin, copper, and sometimes antimony 
and zinc; its main body being lead — the more lead the poorer 
the pewter, the more tin the better and brighter. It is a soft 
metal, easily scratched, bent and broken, so that a dish or plat- 
ter often became badly worn or marred, and was sent to the 
pewterer’s to be recast. It was quite natural, therefore, that 
since this metal was convenient and well adapted for the pur- 
pose, the manufacture of lamps of pewter should commence 
and continue for many years. At first the pewter lamps closely 
followed the lines of the tin ones, with the oil font below and 
the wick at the top coming through a small circular spout; al- 
though now and then one may be found made like the “ Bet- 
tys.” By this time the open spout such as that of the “ Betty ” 
had been generally abandoned and the wicks were now encased 
in snugly fitting tubes. Often these tubes and the top which 
screwed into the lamp itself were made of brass, better fitted to 
stand the wear of being unscrewed every time the lamp was 
filled; for almost all the early pewter lamps were filled from 
the same opening in the top into which the wick went. 

These pewter lamps, though more easily found than the 
very early tin ones, offer by their infinite variety of size, shape, 
and workmanship, a very fascinating field to the collector, as 
witnessed by several plates in this book. Plates 27 and 33 
show more than a dozen from Doctor Norton’s collection, no 
two of which are alike; for they represent probably more than 
a century and a half. The writer’s pewter lamps in Plate 35, 
though somewhat similar in.shape, show quite a variation, es- 


PS SES sasvd aas 


Y 


SNOISAd TIVONSONDA NI SdWVT 


UDS1IYIL I 


‘ 


§€ ALY Id 


paog KAuazyT fo uo0ij291j0D 


TS SSE SEE SZE Se te br sasvd aay SdWVI NLL 40 dnNOud Ose Ee itad. 


4oyin py ay} fO u01]99]1]0) 


TIN, PEWTER, AND BRASS LAMPS 37 


pecially in size — the smallest one in the center of the top row 
being only an inch and a quarter in height, while the interest- 
ing three-wick one beside it is six and a half inches high. 

Quite a few of these pewter lamps as well as some of the 
tin ones have two, and occasionally three, wicks. This change 
from the single wick is said to have been the invention of 
Benjamin Franklin, who became interested in lighting at a very 
early age. In the Boston shop of his father, Josiah Franklin, 
a tallow chandler, Ben, at the age of ten, commenced his not- 
able career by cutting wicks. As he grew older, he noticed that 
the wicks of the lamps in his and his neighbors’ homes soon 
became encrusted with soot or carbon from the faulty or im- 
perfect combustion and constantly needed “ picking up” in 
order to give even a dim light. 

The thought came to him that two wicks, side by side, would 
create a stronger current of air and more oxygen would come 
in contact with the wick, thus insuring freer burning and more 
and stronger light. He at once experimented and found that 
this was a fact. Thereafter most of the lamps were made with 
two wicks instead of the single wick, and a few were made with 
three, but singularly enough three were found not to work so 
well, the twin wicks giving the best results. 

Just as there was a great variation in the composition of the 
pewter from which the lamps were fashioned, equally varied 
were the lamps. In Plate 35 from the writer’s collection the 
large center lamp at the bottom and the smaller one next on 
the right both take a very high polish, quite like silver, and are 
probably almost pure tin; but most of the pewter lamps 
were like the platters, mostly lead and not taking a high pol- 
ish. 

The pewterers’ guild was very large and influential in Eng- 
land. Strict watch was kept over its members and many rules 
were laid down as to standards of workmanship, material, etc. 
Each master pewterer was required to register his private mark, 


38 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


or “touch ” as it was called, and this “ touch ” was stamped on 
each piece with other marks indicating the quality of the metal, 
place of manufacture, etc. An X on the bottom of a plate in- 
dicated that it was of the first quality called “hard mettle 
ware.” Any unscrupulous maker endeavoring fraudulently to 
stamp his wares as of better quality than they really were, was 
severely dealt with. That it is rare to find a lamp with any 
pewterer’s mark on it may indicate that many of the pieces were 
recast from discarded plates, platters, etc. 

It is much more interesting in collecting to get, if possible, 
the history of a piece. Doctor Norton, with his wide acquaint- 
ance, in the course of his extensive travels all over the United 
States in pursuit of his favorite hobby, was enabled to pick up 
many lamps of more than ordinary interest. Illustrations of 
some of them will be found in Plate 27. Number 385 in the 
top row is a small pewter lamp with a camphene burner. Cam- 
phene, a burning fluid, was a product of refined turpentine 
which came into quite general use about 1845 to 1850. Unlike 
whale or lard oil, it was highly explosive. To prevent there- 
fore any danger of the flame’s getting down into the oil font, 
the wick tubes were made longer, as in this lamp and Number 
413 in the same plate. 

The interesting thing about lamp Number 385 is that it was 
formerly the property of Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth 
President of the United States. President Pierce, though one 
of the lesser known presidents, was a man of strong character 
and considerable personal charm. 

At his birthplace, the little town of Hillsboro in New Hamp- 
shire, his former home, now occupied, I am told, by one of his 
nephews, contains many interesting objects connected with his 
public life. His father was a prominent man: Governor of the 
State, and one of the Continentals who fought the British in 
the famous battle of Bunker Hill. His son, who was also in- 
terested in military affairs, when the war with Mexico broke 


TIN, PEWTER, AND BRASS LAMPS 39 


out, took an active part as colonel of a regiment. Since Hills- 
boro was on the direct stage line between Boston and Concord, 
his father entertained many notables at their home and young 
Franklin had the opportunity of meeting many of the most 
prominent of the Colonies’ patriots. 

He entered Bowdoin College at the age of 16 and was gradu- 
ated with honors. He proceeded to imitate his father’s career 
as a politician. Being a great favorite all through that section 
of the State, he was elected to Congress when only twenty-nine 
years of age and four years later entered the Senate, as the 
youngest member. Among his most intimate friends was 
Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose friendship he kept unbroken dur- 
ing his lifetime. He was present when Hawthorne died. The 
two men outwardly had little in common: Pierce — genial, 
making friends easily, enjoying the attentions which a public 
life at that time commanded; Hawthorne — retiring, shunning 
the public eye, sad, almost morbid at times; yet the strong 
friendship was only broken by death. In the old homestead at 
Hillsboro are preserved among many other mementos a number 
of letters from Hawthorne. It is not at all improbable that 
some of these letters of Hawthorne’s may have been perused 
by the light of this little oil lamp. Other letters in this collec- 
tion are from another close friend of President Pierce, Jefferson 
Davis, afterward President of the Southern Confederacy, 
whom President Pierce appointed Secretary of War and who 
served during his administration. The friendship was formed 
while Franklin Pierce was a young member of the Senate. 
This little lamp then has seen some of the most stirring history 
of our country in the making, and is one of those small but 
significant links which bind the historic past to the turbulent 
and perplexing present. 

Number 409 on Plate 27 of Doctor Norton’s is an interest- 
ing deviation from the ordinary burner. If one observes 
closely he will note three projections on the top. The two 


40 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


outer tubes are for the wicks, whale oil being burned in this 
lamp, but the longer center tube is for the purpose of carrying 
the heated air from the burners to the oil in the font beneath, 
thus keeping it in a liquid state during the winter. The mind 
which devised this ingenious arrangement thought enough of it 
to have it patented but deponent saith not whether the device 
actually worked. 

Number 414, the pewter lamp with the peculiar egg-shaped 
font, is another with historical associations. . This lamp was the 
property of John C. Calhoun of South Carolina and was used 
by him during his residence in Washington from 1845 to 1850 
while he was Senator. Many of his famous speeches in the 
Senate chamber were probably written by the light from the 
broad wick of this lamp. 

Number 392 is one of the few lamps marked with the pew- 
terer’s name. This one was made and stamped by Boardman 
Brothers who had a factory in Hartford, Connecticut. It is 
a double-wick, whale-oil lamp. 

Number 420, with the single whale-oil burner, a modest 
little affair, was the property of Doctor Josiah Bartlett of 
Amesbury, one of the less known signers of the Declaration of 
Independence. Doctor Josiah Bartlett, born in Amesbury, 
Massachusetts, was elected a member of the Continental Con- 
gress and helped form the new Constitution. Afterward he 
became President of the New Hampshire colony and in 1793 
its first Governor when it was admitted as a separate State. 
He died in 1795. 

Number 170 is a marked English pewter lamp, made some- 
where about 1700. Its form is interesting: the lamp itself on 
the top of a standard some eight inches in height is similar to 
a “ Betty ”, a shape unusual in pewter; about half way down 
the standard is the drip pan and the handle for carrying con- 
nects the two; and the whole stands on a large circular base. 
The hall marks, the usual pewter marks, are found on the han- 


aALVid SNOJAdad “NI 
SdNVIT OML JO SMAUIA LNAXAAMIAG 


0&1 ‘1S SSE SEE sasvd aay ANV dWVT YFIAWAL TIO-ATVHM LNALVd O06. at ed a 


4oyiny ays fo u01}9a7]0) 


+ 


ES asvd aag 


ES a8vd aay 


SdNVT GNVH NIL 


SdNVT GUNVH 


NIL GANNVdvl 


TIVINS nee RS el ot bref 


UDSLYILTY ‘p4so wy &aua H fo 02729710) 


GNV GaLNIivd Tae ee pd ct 


UDSLYILI ‘pséOy KiuazyT fO u01J99]1]0) 


ye 


fewer WTlLER, AND BRASS LAMPS 41 


dle. Though this is not a Colonial piece, its rare shape makes 
it attractive. 

Number 171 is very similar to 170, except that the drip pan 
is omitted. This lamp also has the very rare hall marks, and, 
from its similarity to Number 170, was probably made about 
the same time and possibly by the same pewterer. 

Number 401 is a pewter lard-oil lamp. An unusual feature 
of this lamp is that it has a wheel to regulate the broad flat 
wick. ‘This lamp dates from about 1840 and came from the 
house of General Robert E. Lee at Arlington, Virginia. The 
wide range of these lamps, geographically, is a most encourag- 
ing thing for collectors; because it shows that a persevering 
search in almost any part of the country is likely to yield rich 
returns; in fact, one of the pleasantest features of this antique 
hunt is that one’s reward is usually found in the most unex- 
pected places. 

The last lamp on this page, Number 341 down in the lower 
right-hand corner, a modest pewter lamp with a brass cam- 
phene burner, was used by Captain John Ericsson, the famous 
inventor of the more famous Monitor, in his office. I wonder 
if the shape of the lamp suggested to his fertile mind the idea 
which he afterward developed in his famous little boat, “a 
cheese box on a raft ” as it was called, which fought so valiantly 
for the Union. 

An interesting type of pewter lamp, Number 140 in Plate 
33, is an improved reading lamp. This one happens to be of 
English manufacture, Doctor Norton says, and was made, he 
estimates, about 1760. It burns whale oil in its drum-shaped 
oil font, but the peculiar feature is the two bull’s-eyes of glass, 
one on each side of the flame, with a pewter shade over it, to 
catch and concentrate the feeble rays upon the reader’s page 
beside it. 

_ These bull’s-eye lamps were made here and are usually 
found with only one lens. Since they are not at all common, 


42 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


a lamp of this kind, in good condition, is considered a find. 
These pewter bull’s-eye reading lamps were evidently one of 
the most popular improvements; for they seem to have been 
in quite general use and some ten or twenty years ago were 
found in almost every antique shop. Of late years they have 
almost entirely disappeared, so that if one wants to study them, 
he must look for them in the cabinets of private collectors. I 
was fortunate in securing photographs of two or three. Plate 
26 gives both a side and front view of a double bull’s-eye pew- 
ter lamp very similar in shape and size to Doctor Norton’s but 
differing slightly in the turnings of the base. There is also 
shown in Plate 42 from Mr. Henry Ford’s collection a fine 
double-wick and double-lens pewter reading lamp. 

In the beautifully clear group of Mr. Gates’ pewter. lamps 
in Plate 37, the central one is a single bull’s-eye with a double 
whale-oil burner and is a particularly pretty and graceful de- 
sign. This lamp is probably the oldest of the lamps in this 
group. 

Number 172 in Plate 33, though very unpretentious in its 
general appearance, is closely connected with some of the most 
stirring events of the history of our infant republic. This 
lamp was secured by Doctor Norton in the homestead of Josiah 
Quincy of Braintree, now in the town of Quincy, Massachu- 
setts, and the family tradition is that it was made in the work- 
shop of the famous Paul Revere at Boston. The accuracy of 
this tradition is open to doubt as there appears to be no authentic 
record of Revere having worked in pewter. Pewter lamps 
however were in use at this time and it is quite possible that 
he, or one of his workmen, might have made this one as a gift. 
Doctor Norton evidently accepted the story as he dated this 
lamp prior to 1770. 

Paul Revere was a very versatile man. Not only was he a 
celebrated silver and gold smith, but he was an artist of more 
than mediocre ability, engraving many of his own drawings on 


fore LER, AND BRASS LAMPS 43 


copper. Later in life he established the first plant in America 
for refining copper in which he rolled the plates for the frigate 
Constitution and other vessels building for the government; 
he also cast many church bells, manufactured gunpowder and 
cast cannon for the Continental army and kept a general store. 
He will doubtless be best known to posterity by his famous 
ride to warn the patriots, John Hancock and Samuel Adams, 
whom General Gage, England’s representative then living in 
Boston, had ordered arrested for high treason. Hearing that 
they were visiting friends in Lexington, General Gage decided 
that it would be a good opportunity to seize them there with- 
out starting the tumult which their arrest in Boston would 
doubtless precipitate. On the night of April 18th, 1775, he 
therefore quietly despatched some eight hundred of his British 
troops with great secrecy to proceed to Lexington and arrest 
the men and incidentally seize and destroy some military stores 
which he had learned the patriots had collected and secreted in 
Concord, a few miles beyond. But the patriots, in some man- 
ner, learned of the expedition. Longfellow in his famous 
poem tells the rest of the story, but historians say that Mr. 
Longfellow is not quite accurate in his account, for Revere’s 
two companions deserve fully as much credit as did Revere. 
In fact, Revere was captured by the British before he reached 
Concord. However this may be, Paul Revere was a staunch 
patriot and very ready to undertake any mission no matter how 
dangerous or arduous which might help the cause of the Col- 
onies for independence. I have in my possession an old Boston 
newspaper, the “ Columbian Centinel ” printed July 16, 1800, 
in which is a notice from the Board of Health of Boston re- 
garding the quarantining of vessels entering the harbor and 
signed “ P. Revere, President ”, showing that he took an active 
and prominent part in the town’s affairs for many years. 
Recently a friend of mine who is a collector of old bottles, 
particularly the tiny hand-blown vials which were used by 


44 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


apothecaries and housekeepers years ago and which usually 
have a very lovely decided greenish tinge to the glass, was talk- 
ing with an old lady from whom she had received some of the 
slender delicate ones. This old lady said she recalled distinctly, 
as a young girl, helping her mother clean and fill the small 
whale-oil lamps, which were used in their home. She par- 
ticularly remembered one of these small glass bottles which 
hung at the end of a shelf, suspended by a string, and which 
was kept filled with turpentine. Near it on the shelf was a 
small piece of wire with a wisp of cotton on the end and after 
the lamps had been filled, cleaned and the wicks “ picked up ” 
and freed of the encrusted soot of the night’s burning, it was 
her duty, with the tiny wire, to carefully allow a drop of tur- 
pentine to fall on the tip of the cleaned and ready wick. 
“ Only one drop,” she said, “and great care must be used not 
to allow the turpentine to touch anything else.” This I pre- 
sume was to keep the wicks in condition to light readily when 
needed. 

I do not know if this was a universal custom — I had never 
heard anything of the kind before — but it was an interesting 
sidelight on the necessity for care to get even the little light 
which these lamps gave under the best of conditions. 

One of the pewter lamps shown on Plate 33 and numbered 
173, Doctor Norton says, 1s one of the most interesting in his 
entire collection. Although not strictly speaking a Colonial 
lamp (its home having been in Germany) it is unique, and the 
fact that it was probably used about the time of the departure 
of the Pilgrims from Holland, gives it a place in these pages. 
Since one of these lamps is shown in an old Dutch print dated 
1610, we may assume that they were in use then in Holland 
and may have been familiar to the Leyden Pilgrim Colony. 
This pewter lamp, like the “ Betty” in shape and design, 
stands about sixteen inches high on a base of pewter. Its es- 
pecially interesting feature, however, is the glass font on top 


uS ‘oS sasvd aay NOUL ANV SSVud SUILMAd ‘NLL NI SdNWT TVASANA AO dnoAd | Fe AEP Td 
: 4a1S3IA0 M ‘S210 * NT “gy fO u01420710D 


TIN, PEWTER, AND BRASS LAMPS 45 


which holds the oil and upon whose sides in Roman numerals 
are marked the hours, the gradual lowering of the oil as it is 
burned up in the lamp marking the time. These “ time- 
lamps ” as they were called were not only not unknown in the 
Colonies but were even made here, to a very limited extent, 
upon the model shown in this Continental one. They are rarely 
or never found now. I have never seen one at a dealers, but 
have a friend, Mr. V. M. Hillyer of Baltimore, long a col- 
lector of lamps, who has one or more of American make. 

Numbers 177 and 190 on Plate 33 from Doctor Norton’s 
collection are both pewter lamps of American make and show 
very fine workmanship, dating somewhere between 1825 and 
1850. The tall wick burners indicate that the lamps were fitted 
to burn camphene as is also Number 375 on the same plate. 
This last lamp is further protected from the dangers of cam- 
phene explosions by a wire gauze wick holder inside the long 
acorn-shaped font. _ 

Number 252 in Plate 33, the little hand lamp with inverted 
bell-shaped base and double whale-oil burner, is a good speci- 
men of what was sometimes called a “squat” lamp. It is 
identical in shape and size to the “ tavern ” lamp of pewter, 
block tin, or glass, specimens of which may be found in Plate 
35 and in Plate 79 from the collections of Mr. Gates and the 
writer. | 

It is reported that these lamps received their name from the 
_ fact that they were commonly used in taverns. When the guest 
wished to retire for the night he was handed one of these little 
lamps to light his way; and if, as was frequently the case, he 
had been drinking somewhat heavily, no harm would result 
if he dropped the lamp while navigating a difficult course up 
to his bedroom; or if again he forgot to blow out the light, its 
small supply of oil would soon do that for him. But perhaps 
these little lamps were more generally known as “ spark ” or 
“‘ sparking ” lamps. When the young woman of the house- 


46 COLONIAL LIGHT hae 


hold heard the footsteps of her favored swain approaching on 
his courting or “ sparking ” night, she would light one of these) 
little lamps. The flame from it was not embarrassingly bril- 
liant and when it flickered and went out for lack of oil, that — 
was a gentle but well understood hint that it was time for the 
young man to find his hat, say good-night on the door stoop 
and start for home! | 

Number 380 in the bottom row of Plate 33 of Doctor Nor- 
ton’s is called a marine lamp. The font is swung on pivots so 
that no matter what the rolling of the vessel the lamp remains 
upright. This lamp has a ring in the side of the saucer-like 
base by which it may be hung from a convenient hook, the 
lamp itself remaining upright while the pewter base acted as a 
kind of reflector. This specimen was taken from the old 
U.S. S. Vermont. 

Very similar swinging pewter lamps, sometimes known as 
chamber lamps, may be seen in Plate 37 of Mr. Gates’ collec- 
tion. The two front lamps on the right of this plate are splen- 
did examples of workmanship. The long wick stems indicate 
that they were probably made for camphene burning. They 
have the same little ring on the edge of the saucer for hang- 
ing on the wall and a round handle on the opposite edge. The 
shapes of these two lamps are good and they have the original 
extinguishers attached by tiny chains. This whole group is a 
particularly good one as all the lamps are in perfect condition, 
of extra good workmanship, and without the dents and bruises 
which mar so many specimens, the soft pewter lending itself so 
easily to marrings from rough handling. The other two cam- 
phene lamps in the front row have very similar handles, and 
the second one perhaps has a more unusual shape than the in- 
verted bell at the extreme right. This lamp is remarkable also 
for the fact that it isa marked piece, stamped with the maker’s 
name, Morey and Ober, Boston. It is one of the few marked 
pewter lamps of American manufacture. 


Peer VIL RR, AND BRASS LAMPS 47 


The first tall lamp in the back row of Plate 37 with the 
broad flat wick is intended for the heavier lard oil and shows 
a fine piece of turning. The tall one on the right is unusual in 
its shape, its simplicity of line giving it a very dignified ap- 
pearance. This lamp is also stamped with the maker’s name, 
T. M. Brickley, Troy, N. Y. Since it is unusual to find an 
early American pewter lamp or candlestick with the maker’s 
name on it, these two marked pieces in this small collection are 
a good indication of the high degree of excellence of this well 
selected group. It isa collection of pewter of which any owner 
may be justly proud and exemplifies the advice which so many 
young collectors disregard: “ Work for 
quality rather than quantity, for a few 
well-chosen, perfect specimens are much 
more worth while than five times that 
number of battered, incomplete and com- 
monplace lamps.” It is quite as much 
an art to know what to discard as what to 
gather together, and every discard helps 
some one else’s collection just that much. 

In the margin is a drawing of a small, simple, tin whale-oil 
lamp which is authentically reported to have been owned and 
used by Abraham Lincoln in his law office during his early days. 
In 1866 Lincoln’s log cabin was exhibited in New York City. 
Doctor Norton was one of the lecturers who daily gave ad- 
dresses there on the great Emancipator. At the conclusion of 
the exhibition in payment for his services he was allowed to 
take several of the relics which had been on view there, and one 
of them was this tin lamp. 

Brass lamps, which came later than the tin and pewter ones, 
seem not to have been made in such abundance as brass candle- 
sticks, for they are comparatively hard to find. It may have 
been because glass lamps were then coming into general use 
and were being sold much cheaper that the demand for brass 


48 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


lamps was negligible. Doctor Norton in Plate 36 has a few 
very good ones from his own collection, which perhaps typify 
fairly well the usual designs for them. Number 338 is a tall, 
double-wick, whale-oil lamp, the base of which suggests 
strongly a candlestick design, the oil font that of a tin or pewter 
lamp. This lamp Doctor Norton dates about 1820. 

Number 326 is a pretty hand lamp, which was secured in 
Deerfield, New Hampshire, from the birthplace of General 
Benjamin F. Butler, that brilliant but eccentric lawyer, military 
man and politician, whose stormy career made him some close 
friends but many bitter enemies. 

Beginning his business life as a lawyer, he gained much 
prominence particularly as a criminal lawyer, and was always an 
active politician. He ran for Governor of Massachusetts just 
before the commencement of the Civil War, but was defeated. 
Having risen to the rank of Brigadier-General of Militia, he 
was appointed commander of the 8th Massachusetts Regiment 
with which he saw considerable service. After the surrender 
of New Orleans to Admiral Farragut’s forces, he was appointed 
military governor of the city. At the close of the war he re- 
entered Congress, was again defeated for Governor, but not dis- 
couraged, ran again in 1882 and was elected. He was a can- 
didate for the Presidency in 1884 on a Greenback ticket, but 
was overwhelmingly defeated. 

General Butler was a striking figure about town. Short and 
quite stout with a large head, his was a personality to be noticed 
in any assembly, particularly as a marked droop to his eyelids 
gave his face a peculiar appearance. He was always very par- 
ticular about his clothes and was rarely seen on the street with- 
out a fresh flower in his buttonhole. 

An able lawyer, he conducted many celebrated criminal cases. 
I recall when I was a boy going to the courthouse in Salem 
where he was the lawyer in a suit, as I remember it, to break 
the will of an aged farmer who had died leaving considerable 


St ‘LE ‘GE sadod aag SdNWI YALMAd AO dAOAO See Ta. 


AoYyjn Vp ay? fO uot}I07/0) 


‘S 
SMOILSHIGNVO AGNV SdWNVI SSVUd 


Coe LAV Td 


p4ofpyav Hy ‘UojJ400N *O°V “2 40790 fo uozj2a110) 


TIN, PEWTER, AND BRASS LAMPS 49 


property, but in his will cutting off a number of relatives. 
They took the matter to court and tried to have the will set 
aside on the ground that the old farmer was insane when he 
made it. 

As General Butler appeared for the defense, I can recall 
him now, his short rotund figure fastidiously dressed, the cus- 
tomary flower in his coat, and —as was his usual custom in 
court — an unlighted cigar in his mouth, which he chewed from 
time to time. 

When I was there, he had a witness, an old neighbor, on 
the stand who was testifying that he had seen the old farmer 
sit reading the Salem Observer, a newspaper which had been 
published in Salem for many years, but which had always 
strongly opposed General Butler in all his political aspirations. 
When Butler was through with his witness (who was testify- 
ing to the sanity of the deceased) he remarked apropos of his 
being seen reading this paper: “ That’s the first evidence of in- 
sanity which has been introduced in this case,” a remark which 
brought much laughter from the audience. 

Numbers 296 and 310 in this Plate 36 are good examples 
of hand or chamber lamps as they were variously called, 310 
being from the house of Doctor Jacob Quincy of the famous 
Quincy family, great-grandfather of Doctor Norton. Num- 
ber 274 is a large brass binnacle lamp — with double whale-oil 
burner, reflector, and extra-sized font — which was used on the 
U. S. S. Georgia, Government transport and hospital ship dur- 
ing the Civil War. 

Many of Doctor Norton’s lamps were directly associated 
with this war, doubtless because Doctor Norton’s position as an 
enlisted man in the 1st Maine Cavalry and later on the staff 
of the Surgeon-General brought him in direct contact with 
many of the leading men in this great conflict and gave him op- 
portunities to acquire many lamps with inceresting histories. 

The broad flat wick of Number 316 indicates that it was in- 


50 COLONIAL LIGH Ti 


tended for lard oil. Number 275 with its wine-glass shaped 
oil font and slender stemmed base was secured at the homestead 
of General Neal Dow, that famous and fiery advocate of tem- 
perance from Maine, so well known to my readers of the older 
generations. 

The lard-oil lamps which may be distinguished by their 
broad flat wicks are not nearly so common as the whale-oil 
ones. | 
A very good specimen of a japanned tin hand lamp may be 
seen in Plate 48 from the Worcester Historical Society’s col- 
lection and another unusually good lamp of this kind from the 
collection of Mrs. A. A. Dana of West Orange, New Jersey, 1s 
shown in Plate 109. It is, I think, complete; the tin reflector 
at the back, which is usually missing from lamps of this type, 1S 
an uncommonly fine shaped one at that. The square tin base 
is out of the ordinary. One can see quite clearly in this ex- 
cellent print the curved brass spring close to the middle of the 
oil font in front. It held the drum-shaped font when pulled 
down to allow the wicks to lie in the oil even when it had been 
nearly all consumed. 

Another lamp of this same type in Mr. Gates’ collection 1S 
the one on the extreme right of the back row in Plate 34, which 
gives an excellent side view showing the brass spring holding 
the oil font with the wicks well down the side as they would be 
when the oil was low. 

This plate also shows the side supports which hold the drum 
and the filling place; but the tin reflector is missing. These 
two lamps, though quite similar to one from Doctor Norton’s 
collection spoken of earlier in this chapter, are good specimens 
of a type which is rarely met with now; for since lard oil was 
used as an illuminant to a limited extent as compared with 
whale oil and camphene, fewer lamps were made for its use, 
and consequently fewer are found to-day. 

The collection of Mr. Gates in Plate 34 is an unusual one in 


fee eV TER); AND BRASS. LAMPS 51 


that the specimens are all in such good condition. The lamp in 
the lower right-hand corner is similar to one in the writer’s col- 
lection, which is spoken of before and shown both open and 
closed. (See Plates 29 and 30.) 

The first lamp on the back row of Plate 34 at the left is a 
particularly fine specimen of the “ petticoat ” lamp; an excep- 
tionally large tin one in perfect condition, showing a double 
wick and separate filling hole. The next two in the back row 
are fine brass lamps, much later of course, but beautifully 
turned. One may hunt for months before finding two brass 
lamps approaching these in design and condition. 

The next one with its funnel-shaped base and four long 
brass wick spouts is a mystery. Neither its owner nor the 
writer has ever seen another like it and its purpose is obscure. 
Just why this shape or what its use is unknown. I hope that 
this note will reach the eye of some collector who has a similar 
piece and who knows something of its purpose and history. 

In the front row, the first two are beautiful little single- 
burner pewter lamps. I think they might properly be classed 
with the tavern or “ spark ” lamps, though they have no ring 
handles, but their single wicks and small size indicate their 
classification there. 

The three remaining lamps in this plate, Number 34, all 
alike except that two are painted white and one japanned, are 
specimens of the very rare tin “ peg ” lamps. Peg lamps, which 
were usually of glass (so called because the bottom part was 
shaped to fit into the top of a candlestick), will be taken up in 
a later chapter. The interesting thing about these lamps is that 
they are authentically reported to have been used in the Mas- 
sachusetts State House on Beacon Hill, Boston, about the time 
of the War of 1812. They have, as you see, very small oil 


fonts and double whale-oil burners, so that it must have taken 


a great many of them to light even dimly one of those great 
rooms. 


52 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


Hanging over the heavy iron-bound door of the Iron Mas- 
ter’s house in Saugus is a quaint brass lamp (Plate 21). Orig- 
inally I think its home was on a vessel, but later it was used 
in a store or shop, perhaps hung as now over a door. It has 
three long, straight, wick spouts coming out of its sides, each 
fitted with an extra spout beneath to catch the drippings and 
carry them back into the lamp. The wicks would be of large 
size and would undoubtedly give a heavy flame with consider- 
able smoke. ‘This is the only brass lamp I have seen of this 
description and the only three-wicked one — most of the others 
being one or two-wicked and of tin. 

Mr. Horace R. Grant, a collector in Hartford, Connecticut, 
has sent a photograph of two quaint lamps (see Plate 19). The 
one on the left is as beautiful an example as I have seen of a 
double-wick, camphene-burning, brass lamp; the turnings and 
proportions of the base, standard and top being particularly 
good. Beside it is a miniature, japanned tin, whale-oil lamp, 
hardly taller than the tin candle extinguisher at its right. 

A particularly good specimen of a real “ tavern ” or “ spark- 
ing ” lamp is the one which Mr. Cooney allowed me to photo- 
graph in Plate 53. It is of pewter, in perfect condition, about 
three inches high, with a brass, single-wick oil-cap, and an in- 
teresting curved flat handle of pewter. It is easy to imagine 
many a traveller with this little lamp in his hand mounting the 
steep stairs of some wayside inn, after a hearty supper and a 
round or two of mulled wine or ale or some real good old flip 
in front of the huge chimney with its cheery roaring fire of 
huge hickory or oak logs; for this was exactly the sort of lamp 
which the olden taverns furnished to their guests. 

A striking combination of a tin stand with a small glass lamp 
(very possibly a peg lamp) is to be seen in Plate 44. The 
shade, painted like the base with its ring handle, is neatly at- 
tached and the single-burner, camphene lamp is evidently in- 
tended for a student or reading lamp, one of those odd varia- 


ee ee ee ae ee a a ee _— — 


Lt ‘ot ‘et saivd vag SdWVI UYILMAd JO NOILOGTION ANIA AMET AS Wek 


dajs2Id0 Ay ‘SAD “NN ‘g fo uo019azj0) 


Collection of the Author 


PLATE 38 See pages OT, 04 


BULL S-EYE WATCHMAN S LANTERN, EARLY TIN CANDLE SCONCES AND 
CANDLE MOULD 


jar AIBN hls, FOLDING BRASS CANDLESTICKS See page 99 


THE TWO CIRCULAR BASES SCREW TOGETHER WITH THE 
REMOVABLE CANDLE HOLDERS INSIDE 


j 
a 
9 
J 


mina e WER, AND BRASS LAMPS 53 


tions from the accepted type which one is constantly find- 
ing. 

An attractive group of the japanned and painted or stencilled 
tin hand lamps may be seen in Plate 31 from the collection of 
Mr. Henry Ford of Michigan. The first is probably the old- 
est, a single-burner whale-oil lamp with the familiar acorn top 
having a separate filling place at the side. This one has the 
ring handle on the base. 

The next lamp, also for whale oil, has a very flat saucer with 
a loop handle. The last two, which are very similar, have the 
broad flat wick tubes for lard oil and loop handles. 

Plate 32 shows some smaller hand lamps also in tin, from 
the same collector. The second specimen is a good type of the 
“ petticoat ” lamp with its single wick for whale oil and its 
separate filling tube at the side directly over the handle. The 
next is a choice specimen of the double-wick, funnel-shaped 
hand lamp, while the last is a curious cup-shaped lamp with 
three long wick tubes projecting from the cover. 

To me the most interesting of the plates from the collection 
of Mr. Henry Ford is Number 28 which shows four very un- 
usual tin lamps. Mr. Ford seems to have been particularly 
fortunate in securing some very unique specimens in tin, and 
the group here shown is a most fascinating one. In fact, so 
unusual are all four that it is quite impossible to select one as 
of greater interest than the others. 

The design of the lamp on the left, with its sturdy squared 
base from which rises the stout column supporting the box-like 
oil font is most uncommon. The curved arms, which protect 
but do not seem to offer any support for the oil font, are also 
most unusual. 

The design of the next is perhaps even more striking. Here 
upon a deep and broad saucer base rises a short but substantial 
column which supports the oil font. This font, which strik- 
ingly resembles a round top, drop-leaf table in miniature, has 


54 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


at one end the capped hole for filling, while opposite is a long 
curved arm terminating in an inverted bell, probably for tak- 
ing care of the smoke. Across the top is a broad flat wick in- 
dicating the use of lard oil as an illuminant. 

The third lamp of this extraordinary group is shaped like a 
round canteen with flat sides. At the bottom two V-shaped 
pieces of tin allow it to stand upright, while a twisted wire 
over the top is for convenience in hanging. A single wick tube 
projects from the top, forming a lamp of most original design. 

The last lamp is of a pattern more commonly found in pew- 
ter than in tin. The large font swings freely on a gracefully 
curved arm which rests in the center of the saucer-base. This 
base has a ring handle at one side for convenience in carrying, 
while on the opposite edge is a wire loop for hanging the lamp 
upon a wall, its freely swinging oil font enabling it to maintain 
an upright position. This has two long camphene wick tubes. 

Plate 42, also from Mr. Henry Ford’s collection, shows four 
good pewter lamps. The first looks as if it might have been 
altered at a later date to burn kerosene. The shape of the base 
is good and the old glass chimney is quite in harmony of design 
with the rest of the lamp. The high polish of the second lamp 
would indicate britannia metal or possibly brass, but its unique 
feature is the arm at the side of the oil font holding the double- 
wick oil burner. 

The remaining two are good specimens of the more common 
types of pewter lamps, in perfect condition, the long-capped 
wick tubes indicating the use of the dangerous camphene, while 
the last is a particularly good specimen of the double-lens read- 
ing lamp. Both the single and the double lens type are now in- 
creasingly difficult to find and one may consider himself for- 
tunate to acquire one of as good a design in such perfect 
condition. 


CHAPTER IV 
LANTERNS 


A BRancu of lamp collecting which offers a fascinating field 
for the collector is that of old lanterns. Since the variety here 
is very marked, it is impossible, in one short chapter, to begin 
to cover the field. 

Plate 46 shows some which Doctor Norton collected and 
which, perhaps, are typical of the many variations of size, 
shape, and design which are embraced under this one head. 

It is evident that lanterns were not used to any extent until 
many years after the first settlement of the Massachusetts Bay 
Colony; in fact, it is rather difficult to assign a much earlier 
date than the first quarter of the eighteenth century, although 
‘ undoubtedly here and there some may have been made and 
used before then. 

The “ two-story ” iron lantern in the second row, Number 
37 of this plate, is an interesting historical one. It was cap- 
tured during that famous expedition, in 1745, against the 
strongly defended fortress of Louisburg, when a little army of 
less than four thousand New Englanders, most of them from 
Massachusetts, trained little or not at all and officered by men 
of no military experience,— in fact, their commander William 
Pepperell was a merchant,— set sail for the coast of Cape 
Breton, and, after a siege of six weeks, with the assistance of a 
small fleet of British vessels which blockaded Louisburg har- 
bor, captured it from the French. 

Some of these early lanterns used candles, others had small 
oil lamps. Most of them used glass for their windows, but 
occasionally one finds an old lantern with the window made 


56 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


of thinly scraped horn, a substitute of doubtful value which 
shows, notwithstanding, the ingenuity of those early workmen 
when proper material was not to be had. Such a one is Number 
361 in the second row. This tall dark lantern is made of cop- 
per with a handle and, behind the horn window, a socket for 
a candle. It was used on the U. S. S. Enterprise during the 
War of 1812. Another intensely interesting specimen of these 
very early horn lanterns is the large one shown in Plate 43. 
This lantern, the property of Mr. Horace R. Grant, a collector 
in Hartford, Connecticut, was of English make, is said to have 
been in the possession of the Lee family 
of Guilford, Connecticut, for over two 
hundred years, and therefore would date 
close to the beginning of the eighteenth 
century. It isa piece worth studying be- 
cause it has more than one horn window 
and because the several dormer-window 
shaped ventilators in the top are quaint. 

Lanterns, or lanthornes as they were 
called in the olden days in England, 
with windows of thinly scraped cow’s 
horn, are extremely rare here. I have 
never found one in any antique dealer’s, 
and I infer that since most of the speci- 
mens found in collections are of English 
manufacture, very few were made in the Colonies. 

Numbers 223 and 169 of Doctor Norton’s collection in Plate 
46 are tin lanterns using candles for lights. The top of the oc- 
tagonal one is particularly interesting. This lantern was used 
in the first fire house in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Num- 
ber 169 is unusual in that it is semi-circular in shape with a 
small door in the back; this is a shop lantern which, it is said, 
was used in a store house during the time of the American 
Revolution. 


oad ee 


0&1 ‘96 ‘69 sasvd aay SHOIATA ONILHOIT TVASANNA JO dnouUDd OE MEAG aie 


K91I0G JDIVAOJSLFT ADJSIIAO A OY) UOT 


Collection of Henry Ford, Michigan 


Pe Lead FOUR LANTERNS OF UNUSUAL DESIGNS See page 69 


Collection of Henry Ford, Michigan | 


Fads Ns 69 be eae Fe GROUP OF PEWTER LAMPS See pages 42, 54 


LANTERNS 57 


The drawing on this page is of a lantern, one of a pair, which 
was used on the first through railroad trains between New 
Haven, Connecticut, and Springfield, Massachusetts, in 
1844. 

Supplied by a single candle, the dim light on either side of 
the coach (for those early railroad cars were really stage coaches 
fastened together and running on light rails) must have made 
night travelling anything but a pleasure. 

Both 261 and 277 in Plate 46 are not unusual types of lan- 
terns, tin top and base and heavy glass sides, but are of interest 
from their associations. 

Doctor Norton in an in- 
teresting article on “ Lan- 
terns in Early America”, 
published in the Connecti- 
cut Magazine for June, 
1904, gives us a story of 
how he found the old tin 
hand lantern for three can- 
dles, a drawing of which is 
shown on this page, in the 
house in Torrington, Con- 
necticut, where John Brown, 
the hero of Osawatomie 
and the great-hearted cham- 
pion of the black man, was born in 1800. The house was 
found in a very dilapidated condition, but I think has since 
been bought by an association which has restored it with the 
intention of making it a permanent memorial to him. 

In the old kitchen, in the big chimney, with its great fire- 
place, was a huge old oven, nearly filled with ashes and bits of 
broken stone, the accumulations of years. Wishing to secure 
some memento, Doctor Norton started searching in the old oven 
and after taking out great quantities of this debris, he discovered 


58 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


the tin lantern pictured here, which had evidently lain there 
for many years and is probably contemporary with the boy- 
hood of this grand old man. 

It is 2 hand lantern, semi-circular in shape, with a front 
which was intended for a square of glass held in place by 
grooves. The handle at the back cannot be seen, but the three 
candlesticks and the rows of rudely made holes at the top and 
bottom for the admission of air and the escape of smoke can 
be plainly seen. | 

John Brown, who hated slavery and all its evils, devoted 
his days to, and in the end laid down his life for, the cause, 
going to his execution with such calm contentment and royal 
bearing as to impress his captors, apparently serene in the belief 
that he was but an instrument in God’s hands. 

Peace to his soul! While his body was scarcely in the ground 
hundreds of thousands responded to the call which was so ur- 
gent to his heart. The cause for which he gladly sacrificed 
everything finally prevailed and that stain upon our national 
life was wiped out forever. 

Number 261 of Doctor Norton’s in Plate 46, a seat tin 
lantern with straight glass sides, is of interest to all lovers of 
Charles Dickens, for it stood on a shelf in the little cabin of 
the steamboat which made daily trips between Springfield and 
Hartford on the Connecticut River and on which Dickens was a 
passenger in 1842 when he was preparing his “ American 
Notes.” The glass cylinder, very thick, requires no protecting 
wires. The lantern was secured to the wall by a strip of brass. 
Dickens? description of the little steamboat is very amusing and 
I should advise my readers to get down their Dickens and look 
it up. 

He says, “ It certainly was not called a small steamboat with- 
out reason. I omitted to ask the question, but I should think it 
must have been of about a half pony power. I am afraid to 
tell how many feet short this vessel was, or how many feet 


a 2 omg? aeeae . 


Se a ae 


LANTERNS 59 


narrow; to apply the words length and width to such measure- 
ment would be a contradiction in terms. But I may state that 
we all kept in the middle of the deck lest the boat should un- 
expectedly tip over; and that the machinery, by some surprising 
process of condensation, worked between it and the keel; the 
whole forming a warm sandwich about three feet thick.” 
However, Dickens made the trip in perfect safety and this 
little lantern with its whale-oil burner no doubt helped to light 
his way. : | 

Number 277 from Doctor Norton’s collection in Plate 46 is 
a watchman’s lantern, or was used for this purpose by men 
guarding the U. S. Treasury building in Washington about 
1860 or 1861. It is rather an odd shape for this purpose, 
but has a D-shaped handle which does not show in the plate. 
The metal top and bottom are of copper. There was a tradi- 
tion among the older employees of this department that a gross 
of these lanterns was imported from England in 1845 for the 
use of the government watchmen. 

With our brilliantly lighted city streets of to-day, it seems 
almost unbelievable that only about two hundred years ago, 
after the sun had gone down, large cities with miles of streets 
and thousands of homes inhabited by industrious and pros- 
perous citizens were left in total darkness, relieved only here 
and there by a feeble glimmer from some lantern or torch at 
the gate, or beside the door, of the house of a citizen, public 
spirited enough to be willing to help the faltering footsteps of 
his neighbors. 

In Boston it was somewhere about 1690 to 1700 that the 
town placed iron fire baskets on the corners of a few of its most 
frequented streets to be kept filled and burning by the night 
watchmen going their rounds. For some time before a larger 
iron basket on a tall pole had been erected on the top of one of 
Boston’s highest hills and used as a signal to the inhabitants of 
this and surrounding towns in any case of emergency like an 


60 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


attack by hostile Indians or other foes, fires, etc.; hence the 
name of Beacon Hill. 

It was not until many years later in 1772 that a meeting 
of the citizens was held to discuss means for more adequately 
lighting the streets after nightfall. A committee was ap- 
pointed, of which John Hancock was a member, and after con- 
siderable discussion it was decided to send to England for 
several hundred lanterns suitable for street lighting purposes, 
as the record runs, “lamps suitable for properly lighting ye 
streets and lanes of ye town.” As far as I am aware, none of 
these earliest street lanterns is known to exist at the present 
time, but they were undoubtedly tin or iron lanterns with 
glass sides, probably fitted with small whale-oil lamps. 

These lanterns were not paid for from the town’s treasury, 
but a public subscription was taken to defray the expense. 
Unfortunately the ship which was bringing them over from 
England was wrecked off Cape Cod, for, in a letter from a 
Boston man at that time he says, “It is unlucky that Loring 
had ye lamps on board for our streets. I am sorry if they are 
lost as we shall be deprived of their benefit this winter in 
consequence of it.” 

However, some if not all the lanterns seem to have been 
salvaged; for in the diary of one Thomas Newell under date 
of January 8, 1774, is the record, “ Began to make tops (sides? ) 
of ye glass lamps for ye town.” Ai little later he must have 
completed his work for the record shows that on the evening 
of March 2nd, 1774, 2 number of the lanterns were hung 
and lighted for the first time and that a large concourse of the 
townspeople turned out to see the great improvement. So 
satisfactory were they evidently that a little later two citizens 
were appointed from each ward to decide upon fitting locations 
for the remainder of the lamps. That was only one hundred 
and fifty years ago! | 

For many years the streets at night were patrolled by night 


Collection of Horace R. Grant, Hartford 


eed TE 73 


OLD ENGLISH TIN HORN 


See page 50 


LANTHORNE 


Photograph by Miss Northend, Salem 
ld 4 See page 52 


PAINTED TIN AND GLASS WHALE- 
OIL HAND LAMP . 


Photograph by Miss Northend, Salem 


Pash oes See page 17 


CAST IRON GREASE LAMP, SAID TO 
HAVE BEEN USED TO LIGHT THE 
WITCHCRAFT PRISONERS 
IN SALEM JAIL 


Collection of Doctor C. A. Q. Norton, Hartford 


PEALE go See pages 55, 50, 575 58, 59 OL, 03 


TYPES OF OLD LANTERNS 


LANTERNS 61 


watchmen who usually carried small hand lanterns and with 
their cry of the hour and “ All’s well ” told the inhabitants 
that they were performing their duty. These watchmen’s 
lanterns are sometimes found. The small triangular lantern in 
Plate 51 from the author’s collection is undoubtedly one of 
them. The bull’s-eye lantern in the writer’s collection in 
Plate 38 is a watchman’s lantern of a later date. 

Number 262 of Doctor Norton’s in Plate 46 is interesting 
as the very crude ancestor of our modern, slide-frame, farm 
lantern. This one, as you will note from the cut, burns a 
candle for light, protected from drafts by a glass chimney. 
This particular one, Doctor Norton says, was used in the ship- 
yard by Ericsson while the original Mowitor was being built. 

Another lantern connected with the naval history of our 
own Civil War is Number 240 on this plate. This is a heavy 
tin lantern called a “ Magazine Safety.” Note the large, 
thick bull’s eye fitted to the projecting tube. A broad-wick, 
copper, lard-oil lamp furnishes the light. The bail on top is 
of brass. ‘This ship’s lantern was taken from the U. S. S. 
Kearsarge after her famous victory over the C. S. Alabama. 
Number 285 is an odd combination of glass and pierced tin, 
semi-circular in shape, the top and back pierced, whereas the 
straight front has a glass panel. It is fitted with a single- 
burner, whale-oil lamp. This lantern was really quite an 
elegant affair, for it was silver plated inside and the lamp was 
of copper instead of the usual tin. In 1829 it hung in the 
gentlemen’s cabin of the Oliver Ellsworth, which is believed 
to have been the first boat to make the regular trips between 
Hartford and New York. Number 283 on this same Plate 46 
of Doctor Norton’s is a rare type of square lantern, its glass 
sides protected with iron bands. Standing about nine inches 
high and provided with a heavy ring for carrying or hanging, it 
was originally fitted with a double-wick oil burner. 

The pierced lanterns from Mr. Gates’ collection, several of 


62 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


which are shown in Plate 47 are an interesting variation from 
the types previously mentioned. They are often spoken of as 
Paul Revere lanterns, why I do not know, for it is extremely 
doubtful if such lanterns were ever used by that active patriot. 
The tall one in the center should be especially noted. Aside 
from its size, which is unusual, the piercings, which any Mason 
will at once recognize, makes it of great interest because it is 
the only one, to my knowledge, with these Masonic emblems 
worked into the design, although there may be similar ones in 
private hands. 

Many of these lanterns are pierced in intricate and beautiful 
designs so that, when illuminated with the candle light inside, 
the pattern is marked in light with a charming lace-like effect. 
The amount of real illumination, however, which they give 1s 
very small and they were probably used largely when one was 
obliged to be abroad evenings and carried close to the ground 
so that one could avoid puddles and rough places. 

These pierced lanterns should, however, be collected with 
considerable caution as they are comparatively easy to counter- 
feit, for acid treatments and burial in moist earth will give a 
new lamp a very creditable appearance of age and rust which 
will deceive the unwary. Since they are found in considerable 
numbers in many shops, I suspect that they are not always what 
they pretend to be. If possible, deal with reliable people and 
check up all information relating to previous owners and history 
of the lantern. If the dealer is honest, he will gladly help you 
with what knowledge he has to authenticate your purchases. 
As I have just remarked, the common name for these pierced 
tin lanterns is “ Paul Revere ” lanterns. Just why this type was 
selected as the lantern which the patriots hung out from the 
balcony of the old North Church I do not know, but popular 
tradition seems to have selected this particular type, and, in 
the absence of any definite proof to the contrary, will probably 


stick to its belief. I have, however, stood on the bridge be- 


4 
| 
} 


pe ne ee ee, ee 


LANTERNS 63 


tween Boston and Charlestown with the tower of Christ Church 
(the old North Church) in plain view on my right, and the 
shores of Charlestown on the left, and tried to imagine one of 
these lanterns, with a candle or small whale-oil lamp glim- 
mering inside, hung out from the corner of the balcony round 
the spire. By the wildest stretch of the imagination, I cannot 
conceive of the slightest ray of light showing to any one 
‘booted and spurred and ready to ride ” looking for a signal 
across the bay; so I infer that if the signal was really given 
by lantern it must have been by some other kind. 

In the Marine Museum in Salem, which was founded by the 
old sea captains and merchants in the East India trade, is a 
wooden ship lantern standing some two feet high, a huge, 
clumsy affair burning a candle in it for light. It was used be- 
fore 1750 by Captain Samuel Page of Danvers. 

By far the most interesting lantern of Doctor Norton’s on 
Plate 46 is the hanging one in the center of the top row, 
numbered 297. This hexagonal lantern, with iron frame and 
cathedral glass panels, lighted by a candle inside, though 
attractive in itself, is much more so from an historical stand- 
point; for this lantern hung in the upper hall of the famous 
Hancock mansion on Beacon Street, Boston, next to the State 
House, when from 1770 to 1780 the house was occupied by 
Governor Hancock and his charming wife. 

I doubt if the destruction of any of the many notable houses 
of New England has been more regretted than that of this 
Hancock mansion. Of an elegant and distinguished appear- 
ance, it stood for years a fitting companion to the imposing 
Bulfinch State House, but was finally demolished before the 
citizens of Boston awoke to its architectural and historic value. 

Its best memorials to-day are the designs used by several 
of the Staffordshire potters, showing the Boston State House 
flanked on either side by the Beacon Street residences of dis- 
tinguished Bostonians. These designs, printed in the fine old 


64 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


blue and used on dinner sets, found ready sale in New England, 
but pieces of it to-day are rather rare and command good prices. 

One design shows the front of the State House and a bit of 
Boston Common, on which cows are feeding. Another shows 
an old, one-horse, two-wheeled chaise and also the houses of ~ 
the aristocratic neighbors of the governor: Honorable John 
Phillips, the father of Wendell Phillips; Doctor John Joy who 
lived on the corner of the present Joy Street; and, on the 
opposite side of the State House, the stately homes of Joseph 
Coolidge and Thomas Amory. The latter mansion was rented 
in 1825 to General Lafayette and his suite. Next to them was 
the house occupied for many years by Governor Christopher 
Gore, and next below, the home of Josiah Quincy, Jr. 

One of the Staffordshire potters, J. & J. Jackson, with works 
at Burslem, England, made a series of American views among 
which was one of the John Hancock house. All these plates 
are now very scarce and command a high price whenever 
offered for sale. 

This Hancock mansion was built in 1737 by John anki 
uncle, Thomas Hancock, from whom it came to John by in- 
heritance. The building itself was of stone, set back from the 
street and approached by a paved walk. In the north wing was 
a hall sixty feet long. In this wing many distinguished guests 
were received during Governor Hancock’s occupancy, so that 
this historic lantern has lighted the steps for such prominent 
men as Generals D’Estaing, Lafayette and Washington, and 
Lords Stanley and Wortley, Labouchere and Bougainville. In 
the last years of its existence (near the close of the Civil War) 
it was filled with valuable relics, pictures, and furniture. It is 
a burning disgrace to the citizens of Boston that they should 
have allowed the destruction of such a noble monument to one 
of Massachusetts’ most distinguished men. | 

The Hancock lantern came to Doctor Norton as a at 
inheritance, since he was a direct descendant of the famous 


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LANTERNS 6s 


Quincy family, as did also a pair of brass mantel lamps which 
were presented to Dorothy Quincy by her father on her mar- 
riage to John Hancock. 

Probably no figure stands out more prominently during the 
stirring days before and after the war which gained for the 
American Colonies their independence than does John Hancock. 

Of most distinguished appearance, standing fully six feet 
tall, and broad shouldered, he was usually dressed in the height 
of fashion, appearing one evening at a secret meeting of patriots 
in an apple green coat with silver buttons, knee breeches of 
silver net tied at the knee with ribbons to match in color his 
coat, white silk stockings and pumps with large silver buckles, 
while his shirt at wrist and throat was adorned with fine rich 
lace. His fine clothes, however, did not prevent him from 
taking active part in all the secret meetings and various plots of 
the American patriots who were seeking by every means possible 
to throw off the burdensome yoke of England. At this time, 
John Hancock had paid ardent court to one of Boston’s dis- 
tinguished beauties, Dorothy Quincy, the daughter of Judge 
Edmund Quincy, with such success that in spite of the attrac- 
tions of many other suitors, Dorothy had bestowed her heart 
and hand upon the young patriot and great preparations were 
being made for such a socially distinguished wedding. Judge 
Quincy, fittingly to celebrate the event, had ordered wall 
paper from Paris to be hung upon the walls of the parlor of 
the Quincy family mansion, which was built on a grant of five 
hundred acres at Braintree, now Quincy, Massachusetts. Miss 
Mary Northend, in her entertaining book, “ Historic Homes 
of New England ”, gives us a vivid glimpse of this love affair 
of John Hancock and “ Dorothy Q.” The wedding plans 
were rudely disarranged, however, by the Revolution, which 
broke out at this time. A price was set on the heads of some 
of the most ardent patriots by the British officials. John 
Hancock and Samuel Adams were forced to flee for safety to 


66 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


Lexington because General Gage, commanding the British 
troops in Boston, had received orders to arrest them and ship 
them to England to be tried for high treason. But Adams and 
Hancock slipped quietly away before the British troops arrived 
there and took refuge in Woburn. 

While John Hancock was staying in Lexington, he was 
visited by his aunt, Madame Hancock, accompanied by his 
sweetheart, Dorothy Quincy, and when the warning came of 
the approach of the hated redcoats, Dorothy was for returning 
to her father’s house, but Hancock, knowing the hatred of the 
Tories for all the prominent patriots, of whom Dorothy’s — 
father was one, insisted that the two women should seek safety 
with them in Woburn. Dorothy, wishing to have her own 
way and assert her independence of her patriot lover, insisted 
upon returning to Boston and a lovers’ quarrel was the result. 
Finally Hancock and Adams were forced to escape to Woburn, 
taking with them Madame Hancock and Dorothy, who con- 
tinued on to Fairfield, Connecticut, where they took up their 
residence in the family of Thaddeus Burr. There Aaron Burr 
met and fell in love with Dorothy, and became so marked in 
his attentions that Madame Hancock became alarmed on be- 
half of her absent nephew and despatched a note to him ex- 
plaining the situation. 

John Hancock, thereupon, being too wise to reproach 
Dorothy for her fickleness, sent her a handsome present and a 
request for the hair chain which she had promised him. She, 
however, being apparently a maid who preferred to have her 
own way, at any rate while she remained single, continued her 
flirtation with the young and fascinating Army Lieutenant to 
such purpose that Madame Hancock sent a peremptory note 
demanding the immediate presence of John at Fairfield. 
Congress, of which he was an influential member, being in re- 
cess, he came in person and soon succeeded in regaining his 
place in the affections of the fair but fickle Dorothy, so that 


LANTERNS 67 


soon after she became his wife and the mistress of the great 
mansion, where as the first lady of the Commonwealth she 
entertained in a truly regal manner. So this old lantern must 
have witnessed many merry gatherings of distinguished men 
and beautiful women within the walls lighted by its feeble 
beams. 

Since there is a great variety of such lanterns, I have de- 
voted a number of plates to them that my readers may get 
somewhat familiar with them. They offer a splendid field for 
the amateur just starting because they are comparatively easy to 
find, usually priced at a few dollars, and, if in fairly good con- 
dition, will give their owner the satisfactory feeling of having 
acquired something that really counts in a new collection. 
They are quite decorative and my private opinion is that in a 
few years the ones with the good old glass in the odd shapes 
which they used will have generally disappeared from the 
markets, and when found will command much higher prices 
than at the present time. 

_ The three plates representing lanterns from the collection of 
Mr. Gates of Worcester show a well-selected variety, each 
lantern being a good representative of its particular kind. 

Plate 54 perhaps shows the most unusual ones. The central 
one has, as the cut plainly shows, four places for candles. The 
front is one large glass pane. . The semi-circular back, which is 
of bright tin to act as a reflector, has a small door in the center 
through which the candles may be lighted and snuffed. The 
outside is japanned and provided with a stout handle and a 
ventilator in the top to allow the smoke and hot air to escape. 
This lantern was undoubtedly used to light a store, or, as Mr. 
Gates thinks, may have been used to illuminate a show case 
or window. ‘The square one at the left has three sides of glass 
and the fourth of tin which opens. The small reflector against 
it enlarges the flame from the camphene burning lamp within. 
The brass extinguisher on the top of the wick holder, with a 


68 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


ring through its top instead of the customary chain, is an inno- 
vation quite uncommon, as is also the arrangement of the top 
of the lamp and handle. 

The other one is six sided, much rarer than the round or 
square lamp, and is lighted by a candle. It has both a handle 
at the back and a ring on top for carrying. ‘The ventilator on 
top, from which the ring hangs, is also of a very unusual type. 
Odd variations like these make a collection of much more 
interest than a large number of the commoner types. 

Plate 55 shows three of the more common type, but in 
excellent condition, the first one having a good ribbed glass. 
The next one, with the glass protected by a wire guard, is a 
conductor’s lantern and was used on the old Fitchburg & 
Worcester Railroad. With a reading glass one can distinguish 
the initials F & W cut in the glass. The third is a lantern 
manufactured at the works of the New England Glass Co. 
(spoken of in Chapter VI) stamped with their name and 
“ Pat. Oct. 24, 1854.” The last one on the right is of a some- 
what earlier and cruder type, with a handle at the back and 
folding tin doors opening in front of the flame over a mica 
window — a great rarity in this type. 

The other plate, Number 47 of Mr. Gates’, gives us views 
of two good square lanterns for candles, protected by wire 
guards but of quite dissimilar designs. Of the two pierced 
ones, the first is an excellent lantern of an unusually good de- 
sign and exceptional workmanship, while the larger one is 
chiefly interesting from its Masonic emblems, spoken of else- 
where in this chapter. 

The writer has two of these tin lanterns with the original 
glass, shown in Plate 51, neither of which is unusual, both for 
whale-oil lamps. The little triangular watchman’s lantern in 
this plate is, however, odd in its small size: it is only about four 
inches high, with two sides of glass and the back of tin. It is 
lighted by a small, three-cornered oil lamp attached to the 


Collection of Henry Ford, Michigan 


ee eh 70 ROUND WHALE-OIL LANTERNS See page 60 


Collection of Henry Ford, Michigan 


fee Peso CANDLE LANTERNS IN BRASS AND TIN See page 69 


. 
. 
| 


Colleciion of the Author 
PLA Tes See pages 14, 25, 32, 61, 68 


THREE TIN LANTERNS AND EARLY TIN WHALE-OIL LAMP 


Collection of C. L. Cooney, Saugus 


Photograph by Miss Northend, Salem 
PLATE 2 See page 99 PLATE Se See page 52 
FINE TYPE PEWTER SPARK OR 

TAVERN LAMP 


CANDLESTICK WITH MICA CHIMNEY 


LANTERNS 69 


bottom, which is hinged at the back and drops down, fastening 
by a spring at the side. 

To one collecting lanterns, an endless variety is a constant 
incentive to add still more. Even of railroad lanterns there 
is quite a variety and a fairly sizable collection might be made 
from these alone. In Plate 49 from the collection of Mr. 
Henry Ford of Michigan, the two at the right are very evi- 
dently of this classification — one having the initials of the 
road ground on the glass and both with double whale-oil 
burners. The smaller one with the octagonal glass and the 
single-tube burner is more familiar, but the queer shaped one 
at the left with the hook on top is not familiar to me and may 
be a type of miner’s lamp of the old whale-oil burning kind, 
though I am not sure. 

Plate 50 shows four good candle lanterns also from Mr. 
Ford’s collection. The oldest one in the group, I should 
judge, is the tin lantern at the right with its glass sides pro- 
tected by the crude wire guards. The remaining ones are of 
brass and the two in the center have mica windows. 

In Plate 41 Mr. Ford gives a view of four lanterns of 
perhaps a little later type. The one with the triangular top is 
unusual while the two tin lanterns at the right with the taper- 
ing square tops are of designs not commonly found. 

Unusual lanterns of good design like these are certainly a 
source of satisfaction to their owner and bear me out in my 
statement that perhaps no branch of lamp collecting yields 
richer or more satisfactory returns than does this one of 
lanterns. 

In the rooms of the Worcester Historical Society are a num- 
ber of interesting lighting devices which they have kindly 
allowed me to photograph. In Plate 40 is a quaint old lantern, 
_ acombination of wooden sides with glass windows and a perfo- 
rated tin top with a door opening on wire hinges. It is lighted 
by a candle which may be seen inside in an old turned-up edge, 


70 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


tin candlestick and is carried by a leather strap over the top. 
This lantern is probably of quite early make. Another is 
shown in Plate 48, the first on the left, a small, square, tin 
lantern with glass front and sides and a solid back upon which 
a tin reflector is hung to increase the light from the small 
sperm-oil lamp. Note the shape of the lamp and the ring to 
pull it out by. Also note a quite unusual feature, one I have 
never seen before —a folding tin handle on the back of the 
door which shuts up perfectly flat when not in use. 

_ The second lantern in this plate, though not so unusual, is a 
good example of a tin, watchman’s, or dark, lantern. The 
curved door with its heavy bull’s eye of glass is open to show 
the small two-wick, sperm-oil lamp in the base. The tin 
slide, which shuts off the light and is controlled by the knob at 
the bottom, is shown partly closed. 

A een with an unusual glass is shown in Plite 65. Since 
most of the lanterns had plain glass globes, it is rather uncom- 
mon to find one with a glass like this with its three rows of 
“ nail-heads ” around it. This is not a very old lantern, as its 
lamp indicates. 

Lanterns were of very ancient origin. In China they have 
been in common use for thousands of years, their origin being 
lost in the dim mists before the beginning of authentic history. 
It is stated that in some of her ancient books, the use of paper 
lanterns in temple worship is mentioned as early as five thou- 
sand years before Christ. In the first month of the new year 
is held in China the “ Feast of Lanterns ”, one of their great 
national festivals, in which the streets of the cities and towns 
are lined with innumerable lanterns of every conceivable size, 
shape and color, some of paper but many of beautiful silks, 
painted and decorated, with elaborately carved and gilded 
frames, some of them very costly. The following Chinese 
legend is given as the origin of this Festival: 

An only daughter of a famous and powerful mnantaeet 


LANTERNS 71 


while walking on the edge of a pond on her father’s estate, 
had the misfortune to fall into the water and was supposed 
to have drowned. Her father, with his neighbors, went to 
look for his beloved child. Happily she was found and 
rescued from her dangerous position and restored to her parent. 
To celebrate the recovery of his daughter, the grateful father 
held a festival annually on the spot where she was found, and, 
because lanterns played such an important part in her recovery, 
he had the whole park brilliantly illuminated. 

From this beginning the “ Feast of Lanterns ” grew and in 
time became a national festival. 

In the elaborate carvings upon the inner walls of the rock- 
hewn tombs wherein were laid the mummies of Egypt’s rulers 
hundreds of years before the Christian era, may be seen the 
representation of a soldier carrying a long rod from the end 
of which is suspended a lantern not unlike the so-called “ Paul 
Revere ” or perforated tin lanterns shown on these pages. 

In the Bible, so far as I am aware, lanterns are mentioned 
but once. Inthe New Testament, John 18: 3, we read, “ Judas 
then, having received a band of men and officers from the 
chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns, and 
torches, and weapons,” showing that the use of lanterns was 
well known in those days and probably among other nations as 
well, for they are spoken of by early Greek and Roman writers. 
Our modern word is a derivation of the old English word 
“ Janthorn ”, referring no doubt to the thin plates of scraped 
cow’s horn which often formed the sides of those very early 
English ones. That they were in common use in Europe at 
an early date is proved by many old writers and by old en- 
gravings. 

In 1416 the Lord Mayor of London, “ ordained, that 
lanterns with lights be hanged out on winter evenings, betwixt 
Hallowtide and Candlemasse.” 

Allusions to lanterns in Shakespeare are quite common and 


72 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


in Queen Anne’s time, lighting with lanterns seems to have 
been very general in London. 

There is an old English print made shortly after the famous 
gunpowder plot of Guy Fawkes in 1604 which shows him at the 
moment of his discovery in the vaults beneath the House of 
Parliament. He is there depicted with a small dark lantern in 
his hand very similar to some of the very early lanterns shown 
in this book. 

It is very evident, then, that the shapes and general charac- 
teristics of our early Colonial lanterns were copied from those 
in use on the Continent. 

After the War for Independence was over and the colonists 
had recovered from its effect upon their business, the daily 
currents of affairs had resumed their regular flow, and the 
wealth of the communities increased; there was an increased 
demand for luxuries from those who could afford them. Many 
articles were imported from England and the Continent, which 
were either not made here or of which the workmanship was 
not to be compared to the more finished and artistic products of 
England, France, Italy and other countries of Europe. Nearly 
every vessel entering our ports from abroad brought quantities 
of china, glassware, silver, materials for all kinds of clothing, 
linens, silks, and many other things. The newspapers from 
about 1785 to 1810 printed many advertisements which make 
fascinating reading to-day. It was very common to advertise 
the arrival of a vessel and give a list of her cargo for sale. 
Some of the articles there mentioned would be totally unknown 
to the young people of to-day. 

The wealthier people demanded more and better lighting 
for their large fine houses and began to give thought and 
attention to a subject which up to now had been almost 
neglected, the lighting of the different halls of their mansions. 

I have already spoken of the lantern which lighted the hall 
of the Governor Hancock house in Boston. It was customary 


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LANTERNS 73 


to have one hung from the ceiling in the front hall near the 
foot of the winding flight of stairs which led to the floor above. 

In addition most of the larger houses had other lanterns, 
perhaps not so elaborate, in the other halls. Tradition has it 
that there were three lanterns in the lower hall of the Hancock 
mansion. 

The home of the famous Lord Timothy Dexter in New- 
buryport is said to’have been lighted by many beautiful lamps 
and lanterns. No less than four hanging lanterns of most 
elegant design are said to have been used in lighting his dining 
room. | 

Many of these lanterns, as well as the more elaborate 
chandeliers and candelabra spoken of in another chapter, were 
imported from England and France, where work of this kind 
was in a much more advanced state than in this country. 

The earlier hall lanterns burned candles, but in the later ones 
whale-oil lamps were used. Beautiful work was put into the 
hanging frames of brass or bronze and particularly into the 
glass for the lanterns or the fanciful shaped globes, elaborately 
cut and etched and often of colored glass. 

Careless handling, of course, was fatal; and for that reason 
one rarely finds a good old hanging lamp with the original 
glass unbroken. 

In Plate 113 you have a fine example of one of those hall 
lanterns. I do not know surely, but from its appearance should 
judge it to be an imported one. Note the grace of the whole 
design. The three bronze chains support the delicately curved 
arms from the upper rim. The same design is repeated on the 
lamp holder at the base of the ruby glass globe, upon which 1s 
ground a bold design, showing the clear glass beneath. Over 
the top is a clear glass smoke protector. 

Two others from Mr. Gates’ collection are given in Plate 
112, both excellent specimens, the smaller at the left having 
a plain glass which held a candle for light, the ornamentation 


74 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


being in the band holding the globe and the candle holder to 
match. The larger one, with a globe of similar shape but cut, 
has a metal band to hold it at the extreme top. Both are in 
perfect condition. 

Plate 89 shows a hall at “ Indian Hill ” the fine old mansion 
at West Newbury, Massachusetts, near Byfield, formerly 
owned and occupied by the late Ben Perley Poore, an enthusi- 
astic collector of antiques. This hall is not in the original house 
which dates from 1680, but is part of a wing lately built. Into 
it has gone old lumber and parts of other old houses, so that it 
well preserves the lines and atmosphere of the rest of the 
house. Mr. Poore hung an old lantern here and Miss North- 
end has kindly allowed me to use this photograph that my 
readers may see an old hall lantern in its proper environment. 


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CHAPTER V 
CANDLES AND CANDLE HOLDERS 


Tue first cattle imported from England were three cows 
in 1630, but cattle were not common for twenty or thirty years 
more. Consequently there was little fat or tallow for the 
making of candles; and the fat. of the deer and bear which 
roamed the woods in large numbers at that time was fre- 
quently used. 

A cheap form of candle was the pith of the common reed 
known as cat-o’-nine-tails (so common in all New England 
swamps) when dipped in tallow or similar fats. These candles, 
known as “rush-lights ”, were burned in peculiar holders 
made so that the unburned portion could be curled up, 
straightening it out as it was consumed. 

Other substitutes for tallow were found in the wax from 
the honeycombs of the swarms of wild bees, found in crevices 
of the rocks and in decayed tree trunks all through the New 
England forests, and also quite extensively in the fruit of 
the bayberry, growing on low bushes along the edges of the 
salt water in the sand dunes. Spermaceti, a fatty substance 
found in the head of the sperm whale, made most excellent 
candles, giving about double the light of the tallow dips, and 
was also used for many years. 

In 1730 a few of the streets of Boston were lighted by 
little square tin lanterns enclosing spermaceti candles. 

Candles were a luxury for many years. In 1634 no candles 
could be purchased for less than fourpence, a sum which was 
considered the height of extravagance in those days. 


76 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


Although most families used their oil lamps on all ordi- 
nary occasions, they almost all kept a good supply of candles 
on hand for all special affairs and it was one of the duties of 
the thrifty housewife each fall to make up and store away a 
large enough supply to carry them through until another fall. 

Two distinct ways of candle making were used, dipping and 
moulding. Dipping, the earlier method, was the more in- 
teresting and required no little skill on the part of the maker. 

In the fall when the cattle were killed to supply the win- 
ter’s meat, great iron kettles were hung from the long cranes 
over the fire in the kitchen fireplace, filled with tallow, or 
whatever fat was to be used, and boiling water. The fat 
rising to the top was carefully skimmed off and, after this 
process was repeated several times to clear the tallow of all 
impurities, was put back over the fire where it would keep 
at as even a temperature as possible. 

Two long poles were then placed parallel to each other 
across the backs of chairs with smaller sticks crosswise from 
which hung the candle wicks. These shorter sticks with the 
cotton wicks hanging down at regular intervals would then be 
taken, one at a time, quickly dipped in the kettle of hot fat, 
and hung up to dry across the two long poles. By the time the 
housewife had reached the last stickful of wicks, the first ones 
would be sufficiently cooled for a second dipping and so the 
process was repeated; each dipping adding another coating of 
wax over the previous one, until the candles were of the 
desired thickness. The skill came in keeping the kettle of fat 
at just the right temperature to add a bit to the candles at 
each dipping. If too hot it would tend to melt off what had 
been previously put on and no gain in size would be made, 
and if too cool it would lump and give the candle an uneven 
surface which would prevent its proper burning. | 

The good house-mothers took as much pride in their candles 
as did our own grandmothers in their skill in making the tooth- 


Collection of C. L. Cooney, Saugus 


Ber lLAaTrTsé «56 : See pages 82, 83, 94, 96 


PODS ArED? TIN WALL SCONCE, TIN TINDER BOX WITH CANDLE HOLDER ON 
COVER AND IRON PISTOL TINDER 


Collection of C. L. Cooney, Saugus 


ed Ti 57 See page 25 


DeOeLAMP IN COPPER, USED BY EARLY JESUIT MISSIONARIES TO_THE INDIANS 


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CANDLES AND CANDLE HOLDERS 77 


some pies and rich cakes for which New England cooks were 
justly noted. 

As you can imagine, this candle making was an exceedingly 
slow and tiresome task; the candles had to be cooled very 
slowly or they would be apt to crack, and the fire and pots 
watched constantly, but it was no uncommon thing for a skilled 
worker to turn out two hundred finished candles in a day. 

For the second process, which came into use a little later, 
tin and sometimes pewter moulds were used (as shown in 
Plates 59 and 60). These moulds ranged from single candles 
to as many as six or eight dozen or even more in a mould, and 
the process, of course, was much simpler and more rapid. 
Still care and some degree of skill had to be used in keeping 
the candle wicking taut and straight as it hung down inside the 
mould. Plate 59 shows a group of candle moulds from the 
collection of Mr. V. M. Hillyer of Baltimore. The larger 
wooden stand at the right containing two dozen pewter moulds 
is a particularly rare piece. In Mr. Hillyer’s description of 
this photograph he says, “ Candle moulds usually had from 
two to two dozen barrels and were made of either tin or 
pewter. The twelve barrel mould was perhaps the com- 
monest, although six and eight were not unusual. The single 
barrel pewter mould illustrated is probably one of a bank 
like the large one of twenty-four barrels shown standing at 
the right. The mould in the right foreground shows how 
the wicks were supported before the tallow was poured. An 
original poured tallow candle in the single barrel mould shows 
the loop that was of necessity always found in such candles.” 

Another interesting group of smaller tin candle moulds is 
seen on Plate 60 from Mr. Gates’ collection. Hanging on the 
wall is a four-candle tin mould (the tin moulds commonly 
used came in one, two, four, six, eight, twelve and sometimes 
twenty-four and higher candle combinations, though four, six 
and twelve seem to have been in most common use) showing 


78 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


the finished candles in place just as moulded, the stick at the 
top holding the wick loops while the tops are projecting from 
the ends of the moulds at the bottom. The four-candle 
mould at the right is filled but shows some of the candles 
partly drawn out; the loops here are more plainly seen. All! 
of these candle moulds are in excellent condition and this 
plate will give one a good idea of the candle-making process. 
The writer has a tall two-candle mould and several of twelve 
and twenty-four candle capacity. Candle moulds a few years 
ago were very plentiful and lightly valued, but the demands 
of collectors have become so insistent lately as to ‘Prachcahy 
sweep the market bare. 

The bayberries furnished the material for the choicest 
candles, and since it took a large quantity of berries for each 
candle made, they were highly prized and kept for very 1m- 
portant occasions. The bayberry is a very small, silvery-gray 
berry, growing in thick clusters on the brittle stems of a low- 
growing bush found close to the seashore. It has to be boiled 
and skimmed several times before the fat is a delicate, semi- 
transparent light green indicating that it is sufficiently refined. 
These candles burn quite freely and give off a delicate 
fragrance. 

As the demand for candles increased, in time men made a 
business of travelling from house to house around the country, 
stopping a day or two in each place long enough to make up 
the winter’s supply and they were usually warmly welcomed 
because they supplied the family not only with candles but 
also with all the news and gossip of the countryside, a matter 
of no small importance when newspapers were unknown. 

With the use of candles came the making of an infinite 
variety of holders, so that a collector may have.a very busy 


and interesting time if he simply wishes to confine himself to’ 


candlesticks and candle holders. He may find them in iron, 
tin, pewter, wood, brass, glass, silver and earthenware, with a 


feos AND CANDLE HOLDERS § 479 


bewildering variation in form, size, design, etc., in each kind. 
Some are common enough to be found in almost any little 
country antique store, while others are so rarely met with that 
it often takes years of patient search before one is rewarded. 

I am fortunate enough to number among my friends Mr. 
Burton N. Gates of Worcester, a gentleman who has been for 
many years a collector of that fascinating ware made in the 
town of Bennington. 

In 1793 two brothers from Connecticut by the name of 
Norton started a pottery in Bennington, Vermont, for the 
manufacture of common earthenware household utensils from 
the red earth found in that vicinity. In 1800 they commenced 
the making of stoneware. Just how long they continued or 
how successful they were, I am unable to say, but in 1846 
three young men formed a partnership under the firm name of 
Fenton, Hall, and Norton and commenced the making of 
yellow, white and Rockingham wares in the old stoneware 
pottery of the Nortons. This enterprise seems to have met 
with success from the start. In 1849 new buildings were 
erected and occupied. 

The membership of the firm changed several times, one or 
another of the partners dropping out and others coming in, 
but Mr. Fenton remained and seems to have been the guiding 
spirit of the enterprise. The name of United States Pottery, 
Bennington, Vermont, was now adopted and the products were 
generally known under this name. They made several dif- 
ferent wares, but the white Parian marble and the mottled 
Rockingham or Flint Enameled ware as it was called seems to 
have been the most popular. This latter ware, a patent for 
which was issued to Mr. Fenton, is what is commonly known 
to collectors to-day as Bennington, and this is the ware of 
which the collection of candlesticks shown by Mr. Gates is 
made. The mottled coloring of browns, yellows, soft greens 
with touches here and there of dull blues and reds produced a 


80 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


very lovely and striking effect, which seems to have exactly 
suited the tastes of the public; for these wares became very 
popular, so that by 1853 the pottery was employing one hun- 
dred hands. This coloring was produced by different metallic 
oxydes applied on the glaze, which latter served as a medium 
to float them about upon the surface while in a state of fusion, 
this producing the variegated tints and moss-like effect. 

Many other potteries, seeing the success of this ware, tried 
to imitate it, as several examples in his collection of Mr. Gates 
will show, but any one at all familiar with the genuine Ben- 
nington can tell it at a glance. 

The factory, however, was short-lived, closing its doors in 
1858 when Mr. Fenton moved West. To-day there is 
probably no American ware more eagerly sought or more 
ardently admired than Bennington. Many collectors specialize 
in it, and so keen is the rivalry whenever a really good piece 
comes on the market as to often run the price up to three 
figures. 

This wonderful collection of Bennington candlesticks in 
rich and distinctive colorings of mottled cream, brown, yellow, 
and dull green glaze, the distinctive mark of this ware, is all 
in perfect condition. The collection shown in Plate 71 is the 
reward of many years of patient and diligent seeking, the value 
of which can only be approximated when one considers how 
rarely to-day can be found even a single one and that usually 
damaged. In this collection the pair of candlesticks just at 
the left of the center, with the pierced bases, are spurious, made 
to imitate Bennington by E. & W. Bennett, potters of Balti- 
more. The single stick at the right of the center is also an 
imitation and was made by a potter in Trenton, New Jersey. 
All the others are genuine Benningtons and the central piece, 
which is a lamp base, is marked. This is the only lamp, so 
far as I am aware, in any collection to-day, marked with the 
Bennington stamp. ‘These candlesticks are only a small part 


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CANDLES AND CANDLE HOLDERS 81 


of the collection of Bennington which he has been gathering 
for many years and which now includes specimens of almost 
all the many forms of pitchers, bowls, household utensils of 
all kinds, mantel ornaments, picture frames, small statuettes, 
etc., which were turned out by those Vermont potteries. 

Other potteries, less celebrated than Bennington, occasionally 
made candlesticks and some were brought from England, but 
metal and glass candlesticks were the more commonly used. 

Of the iron ones, which were of early make and quite soon 
superseded by tin and brass, few remain to-day. Although 
they are crude and far from ornamental, they are of interest 
to the collector who wishes to make his record as complete as 
possible and should be sought for. 

They were usually in the form of a small cylinder attached 
to a broad base and sometimes had a slide in the cylinder which 
enabled the candle to be pushed up as it was burned. One of 
the special features found on some of these early iron candle- 
sticks is a lip of iron at the top of the stick where the candle 
enters the socket. This is for the purpose of hanging on the 
high ladder-back or similar type chair so that the light coming 
over the shoulder may guide the fingers of the knitter or 
illumine the pages of the book of the reader sitting in the chair. 

Mr. B. N. Gates has placed one of these on the back of a 
chair to illustrate the method of using, in Plate 22, though a 
higher chair with more slats should have been used. 

Candlestands in iron were often wrought by the skilled hands 
of the early blacksmiths, showing in most cases a strong feeling 
for line and proportion and often delicately and skillfully 
wrought. Plate 6 from the collection of Mr. C. L. Cooney 
shows a well designed table stand for two candles, the graceful 
arms and legs and the twisted stems being very well done. 
Note particularly the curved top to lift it by and the very 
graceful legs, also the spiral twists in both the central upright 
and the two candle branches. 


82 COLONIAL LIGH Ties 


In Plate 5 are two taller stands, also from Mr. Cooney’s 
collection, for use beside the big fireplaces. These are also 
well worth close inspection for the workmanship is of a high 
order. : 

One of the most vexatious things about the early lamps and 
candles were the means for lighting them. As friction matches 
were not invented until 1827 and did not come into general use 
until some years later, and even then were rather clumsy 
affairs and by no means certain, the use of flint and steel and 
tinder boxes was universal. 

Of course by far the easiest way, when there was a fire on 
the hearth, was to light a sliver of resinous wood from the 
glowing coals. Very carefully was the fire covered at night 
with ashes so that live coals in the morning might be easily 
fanned into a cheerful blaze. But there were times when it was 
necessary to get a light when a fire was not available and then 
the tinder box was resorted to. In Plates 56 and 58 may be 
seen a tin tinder box with a stand on the lid for a candle. 
These boxes were filled with charred linen cloth or some 
substance which would catch fire easily, called tinder, and then 
a bit of rough flint with a sharp edge was struck sharply against 
a piece of iron causing sparks to fall into the box igniting the 
tinder. 

A very early flint, steel and tinder box which has seen 
much actual service is shown in Plate 74. This was a pocket 
outfit, the flint with the flat piece of steel resting on it at the 
right and the tinder box which consisted of a hollow wooden 
tube for carrying the tinder, with a cork stopper at the left. 
The cork has been taken out to show several bits of the charred 
rags which were used as tinder. 

A small piece of wood coated with sulphur was then thrust 
into the burning tinder and from this primitive match the 
candle or lamp was lighted. It often took some time to get a 
light to the exhaustion of one’s patience and temper. 


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oes AND CANDLE HOLDERS 83 


A unique variation of a flint and steel is shown in Plate 56 
from Mr. C. L. Cooney’s collection. This was for use in the 
well-to-do homes and is exactly the same in principle and al- 
most identical in appearance to the old flint-lock musket or 
pistol. Instead of the hole into the barrel where the spark 
from the flint and steel would ignite the powder, there was a 
tiny square tinder box into which the spark fell when the 
trigger was pulled, and, after several attempts usually, the 
tinder would catch fire and then the candle, which was often 
attached to the side of the pistol tinder box, could be lighted. 

In Plate 58 may be seen a very extraordinary collection of 
tinder boxes used in Colonial America and all probably of 
home manufacture with the exception of the box-like arrange- 
ment in the lower row which seems to be of Spanish origin. 

This wonderful collection is reproduced here by courtesy 
of its owner, Mr. V. M. Hillyer of Baltimore, who describes 
them as follows: 

“<The two tinder boxes at the lower left of the illustration 
are the common types used in Colonial days — one with and 
one without a candle socket on the cover. Both had an inner 
top and of course contained tinder, flint and steel. 

“The smaller box to the right of the two mentioned is a 
pocket tinder box. The steel is fastened to the front edge. 
The flint is shown just before it. 

“ The next box to the right is a combination ink well, sand- 
cup, and flint lock pistol type of tinder box, a very rare speci- 
men damascened with gold inlay. The two pistol tinders — 
both with candle sockets, though the one in foreground is 
hidden behind — are less rare — but these are unusually good 
specimens and still in perfect working order. The trigger was 
pulled, the flint-headed hammer struck the steel, at the same 
time lifting the lid of a little pocket containing tinder, which 
was ignited. The light was then carried by sulphur-tipped 
splints to the candle at the side. 


84 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


“ The large filigree ‘Steel’ hanging to the upper left of 
the illustration was hung by the fireside for common household 
use and purposely made of this size and weight (it weighs 
nearly two pounds) to prevent its being inadvertently put in 
one’s pocket and carried off. 

“The pocket ‘Steel? hanging next, to the right, is fitted 
also with a corkscrew and whistle. The indentation on the edge 
of the steel has been worn down by innumerable strikings. 

“ The cylindrical tinder box next is a pocket form, while 
the one to the right is a de luxe affair of silver, which was 
carried like a watch by some Colonial dandy. The name plate 
bearing his initials has a double edge of steel for striking, the 
flint is suspended by another part of the chain and the tinder of 
braided rags is carried through a hexagonal barrel.” 

Since some of my readers may have become by this time 
so interested in candles and candle making as to want to try 
the experiment of their manufacture for themselves, I append 
the following careful directions, copied from “ The Domestic 
Encyclopaedia ” in five volumes by “ A. F. M. Willick, M. D. 
— First American edition, with additions applicable to the 
present situation of the U. S. by James Mease, M. D.” and 
published in Philadelphia in 1804 — nearly a century and a 
quarter ago! 

“CANDLES . . . There are two species of tallow candles, 
the one dipped, and the other moulded; the first are those in 
common use; the invention of the second is attributed to 
LeBrege, of Paris. Good tallow candles ought to be made 
with equal parts of sheep and ox-tallow; care being taken to 
avoid any mixture of hog’s lard, which occasions a thick black 
smoke, attended with a disagreeable smell, and also causes the 
candles to run. 

“ When the tallow has been weighed and mixed in the true 
proportions, it is cut very small, that it may be more speedily 
dissolved; for otherwise it would be liable to burn or become 


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CANDLES AND CANDLE HOLDERS 85 


black, if left too long over the fire. As soon as it is completely 
melted and skimmed a certain quantity of water, proportionate 
to that of the tallow, is poured in for precipitating the impure 
particles to the bottom of the vessel. This, however, should 
not be done till after the first three dips; as the water, by 
penetrating the wicks, would make the candles crackle in burn- 
ing, and thereby render them useless. To purify the tallow 
still more, it is strained through a coarse horse-hair sieve into a 
tub; where after remaining three hours, it becomes fit for use. 

“Wax candles are of various kinds and forms; they are 
made of cotton or flaxen wicks, slightly twisted, and covered 
with white or colored wax. This operation is performed either 
by hand or with a ladle. In order to soften the wax it is 
worked repeatedly in a deep narrow cauldron of hot water. 
Then taken out in small pieces, and gradually disposed round 
the wick, which is fixed on a hook in the wall, beginning 
with the larger end, and diminishing in proportion as the neck 
approaches; to prevent the wax from adhering to the hands, 
they are rubbed with oil of olives, lard or other unctuous sub- 
stance. When it is intended to make a wax candle with a ladle, 
the wicks being prepared as above mentioned, a dozen of them 
are fixed at equal distances around an iron circle, which is sus- 
pended over a tinned copper vessel containing melted wax; a 
large ladleful of which is poured gently and repeatedly on the 
tops of the wick till the candle has acquired a proper size, when 
they are taken down, kept warm, and smoothed upon a walnut- 
tree table with a long square instrument of box, which is con- 
tinuously moistened with hot water, to prevent the adhesion of 
the wax. In other respects this mode of making wax candles 
corresponds with that of manufacturing them with the hand. 

“ From the very great utility of candles, they early became 
the object of adulteration; hence it is provided by various acts 
of parliament, that all adulterated candles shall be forfeited; 
and if any tallow-chandlers, or melters make use of melting- 


86 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


houses without giving due notice to the excise-officers, they 
shall be subject to a penalty of £100. 

“ Although candles are preferable to lamps, as their light 
is less injurious both to the eyes and lungs, and as they do not 
produce so great a volume of smoke, yet a clean chamber-lamp 
which emits as little smoke and smell as possible is far superior 
even to wax candles; for 1. as all candles burn downwards, 
the eye necessarily becomes more fatigued, and strained during 
the later hours of candle light; 2. because they yield an irregu- 
lar light which occasions the additional trouble of snuffing 
them; and lastly because, if the air be agitated ever so little, or 
if the candles are made of bad materials, they injure the eye 
by their flaring light. 

“‘ A method of making this useful article with wooden wicks 
is practiced at Munich in Bavaria; and as it promises to be of 
great utility, we lay the following account before our eco- 
nomical readers. 

“The wood generally used for this purpose is that of the 
fir tree, when one year old; though pine, willow or other kinds 
are frequently employed; the young shoots must first be de- 
prived of their bark by scraping; which operation ought to be 
repeated after they become dry, till they be reduced to the size 
of a small straw. These rods are next to be rubbed over with 
tallow or wax, so as to be covered with a thin coating of either 
of these substances; after which they should be rolled on a 
smooth table in fine carded cotton, of the same length of the 
candle-mould; care being taken of an uniform thickness around 
the wick, excepting at the upper extremity, where it may be 
made somewhat thicker. By this preparation, the wicks will 
acquire the size of a small quill, when they must be placed in 
moulds in the usual manner, and good, fresh tallow, which 
has previously been melted with a little water, be poured 
around them. The candles then manufactured emit nearly the 
same volume of light as those made of wax; they burn con- 


Sewer S AND CANDLE HOLDERS § 87 


siderably longer than the common tallow candles; never crackle 
or run; and as they do not flare, are less prejudicial to the eyes 
of those persons who are accustomed to long continued lucubra- 
tions. . . . Professor Hernstadt of Berlin finds by experiment 

. . that pure white wax candles are, with regard to the time 
they last, the most economical; that tallow candles, provided 
the wicks be in proportion to the tallow, burn the slower the 
smaller they are. . . . He also finds that spermaceti candles 
are subject to the greatest waste of any and emit more smoke 
than tallow candles, although their vapor causes no disagree- 
able smoke like them.” 

In an old newspaper in the author’s possession, the Colum- 
bian Centinel, published in Boston, Massachusetts, and bearing 
the date of July 16th, 1800, is an advertisement of Rawson 
and Davenport, 13 Orange Street, of “‘ 100 boxes of dipped 
tallow candles.” 

Just imagine the long weary hours of hard work which went 
into the making of those hundred boxes! 

One of the earliest forms of candlesticks is called a 
“ Pricket.” It consists of an iron pin or spike upon which the 
candle is impaled and this pin is upheld on a base of various 
forms, usually a three- or four-legged rude iron stand. These 
seem to have been in common use in England and other Con- 
tinental countries and the first designs made by the blacksmiths 
here were modelled after the European ones. Later iron 
stands were made taller with usually two or more candles in 
holders instead of on pins to stand upon a table or the floor. 
A piece like that shown in Plates 5 and 12 is a great find (if 
genuine) and the fortunate owner will usually not part with it 
except at a large figure. An especially well-made piece in 
good condition often fetches between one and two hundred 
dollars or more. 

Since, however, they are very scarce and worth so much, it 
is a great temptation for unscrupulous dealers (of whom I am 


88 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


very sorry to say there are some) to counterfeit. This is done 
by skilled iron workers so that in purchasing a piece of this 
sort, one should use the greatest care, deal only with a man in 
whom one has the utmost confidence, and then it would be well 
to have the piece passed on by some expert. The two examples 
shown in Plate 5, from Mr. Cooney’s collection, are both good 
pieces of early American iron work and are undoubtedly genu- 
ine; the one at the left is fine in its restrained simplicity of 
design and proportion. The two candle holders at the extreme 
ends of the iron arm with its graceful curves turn on the round 
upright. The square braces which hold this arm are unusual 
and interesting. The taller on the right is rather more ornate 
but hardly of so pleasing a design. The curves are not so good 
and the curved brace is not nearly so well done. The top of 
the central spindle is ornamented by a turned piece in brass 
and there is also a twist in the lower part of the shank. The 
feet are similar in both, but the one on the right, you will note, 
has the three feet made separately and carried past the center, 


an oddity which one seldom sees. Observe also the iron candle. 


snuffers hanging from the hook. | 

The central stand, from Mr. Gates’ collection in Plate 14, is 
probably earlier. The sockets for the candles are placed on 
the cross bar itself, which widens out at this point for the pur- 
pose, and the brace to hold the arm is well designed; its three 
legs are entirely different from the two stands in Plate 5 and 
are especially good. This also has the iron snuffers hanging 
from the hook under the arm. This piece was found in New 
York State. 

Wooden candle holders similar to the remaining ones, also 
from Mr. Gates’ collection, in this plate are very rarely met 
with, are extremely interesting, and command extraordinarily 
high prices. For these reasons they should be bought with the 
greatest care because there is every inducement to “ fake ” 
pieces of this sort. 


Fl oe i” 
a ae 


Collection of Mrs. Henry A. Murray, New York City Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


PLATE 63 See page 98 PLATE 64 See page 98 
UNUSUAL CANDLE. SCONCE WITH TIN WALL SCONCE WITH ODD 
PEWTER REFLECTORS GLASS REFLECTOR 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 
eed TE 65 See page 70 |e) Bap (PEE 083 See page 29 
TIN LARD-OIL LANTERN WITH “‘NAIL- OLD PEWTER “BETTY LAMP OF 


HEAD’ GLASS UNUSUAL SHAPE 


Collection of Henry Ford, Michigan 
Piet) 07 See page 103 


PAIR OF CANDLE SHADES OR ““‘HURRICANE GLASSES 


[ees AND CANDLE HOLDERS 89 


These pieces, which are almost always of home manufacture, 
whittled out often in the long winter evenings, are perhaps 
more ingenious than strictly beautiful, though they usually 
have a rugged grace of their own. The figure on the left is 
made for two candles and is all original except that the wedge 
to hold the candle-arm was missing and had to be replaced. 
The slab at the base, into which the upright was fitted, shows 
the marks of the early hand saw. Mr. Gates found this piece 
within a year in an antique shop in Boston, showing that genu- 
ine old pieces still find their way to the markets and have not 
all been gathered into collections. 

When Mr. Gates found this holder the candle-arm had 
slipped down to the bottom and it was something of a puzzle 
to know by what means it was held in place as there were no 
holes for pegs in the upright standard, which would seem to 
be the simplest way to hold the candle-arm. By studying care- 
fully, however, the shape of the opening he decided that a 
wedge such as he has constructed was used. This proved the 
right solution, for faint marks up and down indicate different 
points where the wedge was formerly driven in to hold the 
candles. 

The remaining wooden stand is also very crudely made, but 
the extension arm, very evidently whittled out with a jack- 
knife, like the candle holder, is so ingenious but simple as 
to make this stand interesting. Note the heavy, hand-hewn 
slab at the base. This piece also was found in New York 
State. 

Plate 12 gives a view of perhaps the most graceful of all 
the tall holders. The design is particularly good and is carried 
out in iron with the ball at the top and the two candle holders 
of brass. The stand is also fully equipped with a fine old pair 
of snuffers and an extinguisher, hanging on their respective 
hooks. This stand is the property of a Pennsylvania collector, 
Mr. Francis D. Brinton of West Chester. 


90 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


A very early piece of wrought iron work is shown in Plate 7. 
This chandelier for four candles was made to hang from the 
great hand-hewn beams running across the top of the living 
or dining room and was used in the famous old Westover Man- 
sion on the James River in Virginia. It is now in the collec- 
tion of Mr. Brazer, an architect of Chester, Pennsylvania. 
There is fine work in the large hook at the top and in the 
terminals of the candle-arms. 

As I stated previously in this chapter, few candlesticks were 
fashioned from iron. These were followed by similar shapes 
in tin, a more convenient metal. But tin did not lend itself 
readily to ornamentation although convenient and acceptable 
for ordinary usage; so the demand for something better soon 
brought about the general use of brass for candlesticks and, 
to a more limited extent, pewter. Since brass took a high de- 
gree of polish and could be easily worked into graceful designs, 
brass candlesticks came into great favor, and, since they were 
almost indestructible, are to-day among the most easily found 
of the early lighting devices. The plates show a few of the 
many designs which were used. In Plate 36 Doctor Norton 
shows a rather unusual type of chamber candlestick in brass, 
Number 246 on the bottom row. 

This candlestick, it may be seen, has a brass knob which 
slides up and down to regulate the height of the candle. It is 
also fitted with an extinguisher. Some of the taller sticks, 
such as Number 79 on this same plate, had a spring in the 
bottom of the central shaft upon which the candle rested and 
which was held in place by the top, which screwed on, leaving 
an opening for the wick. ‘The spring by its gentle pressure 
beneath kept the candle so that the burning wick was always at 
the top of the stand, no matter what the length of the candle. 
A variant of this is found in Number 66 on the same page. 
Its lyre-shaped pivots on a square base enable the candle to 
keep an upright position. As indicated by its design, this piece 


Peet AND CANDLE HOLDERS § 91 


was for use on naval vessels and has quite an interesting his- 
tory. 

When that famous battle took place off the coast of Massa- 
chusetts in 1812 between our frigate Constitution, under the 
command of brave Captain Hull, and the British man-of-war 
Guerriére, commanded by the boastful Captain Dacres, in 
which, in less than an hour, the British ship, riddled with shot 
and in a sinking condition from the well directed fire of her 
rival, was obliged to surrender, Captain Hull sent a prize crew 
aboard under Lieutenant Hoffman. 

He soon discovered four feet of water in her hold and that 
she would be unable to keep long afloat and was ordered to blow 
her up. 

Before setting her on fire he had the personal effects of the 
British officers removed to his own vessel, and, desiring to 
preserve some memento of the engagement, he took from the 
cabin of the British commander this candlestick which bore on 
one side of its base the “ Broad Arrow ”, the official stamp of 
the British Navy, and afterward had stamped on the opposite 
side U. S. S. Constitution and the date of the fight “ August 
Lie hod 8 ald 

Number 70 in this Plate 36 of Doctor Norton’s is another 
of the candle holders in which a concealed spring keeps the 
candle always at the top of the stick. This one, designed for 
a short candle, is stamped “‘ Palmer & Co, patent ”, was taken 
from Fort Sumter in 1865, and was probably there during the 
famous bombardment at the commencement of the Civil War. 

The first candlestick, Number 85, of the brass ones shown 
in Plate 70, which dates, Doctor Norton says, from about 1829, 
was taken from the home of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Num- 
ber 248, though not of American make, is of the general type 
used here and is of a particularly graceful design in bronze 
and brass. This was brought home and used by an American 
sea captain from the Island of St. Helena, which he visited in 


92 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


1824. He obtained it from the lodge in which resided Napo- 
leon’s chaplain in 1818. The three central sticks in the bottom 
row of this plate are all similar in design. Number 44, a can- 
dlestick of French make and of the Louis XIV style, came 
from Portland, Maine, from the home of Mr. Clapp, Member 
of Congress in 1848. The central one, Number 81, is prob- 
ably of American make and was owned by Elbridge Gerry, 
one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, who, 
besides his active participation in the Continental Congress, 
afterward represented Massachusetts, was appointed commis- 
sioner to France, elected Governor of Massachusetts in 1810, 
and Vice-President of the United States in 1813. 

The oblong-based candlestick with the brass extinguisher, 
Number 54, in Plate 70, came from the Directors’ Room of 
the Mobile State Bank, one of the important banks of the 
South and the depository for the Confederate Govern- 
ment. 

One of the few pewter sticks is Number 330 in Plate 33. 
It came from the birthplace of Hannibal Hamlin in China, 
Maine, and was given to Doctor Norton by Mr. Hamlin him- 
self while he was U. S. Senator, after having served his term 
with Abraham Lincoln as Vice-President from 1860 to 1864 
during the gloomiest and most bitter years of the great Civil 
War. 

In the beginning of this chapter I mentioned the rush lights, 
a very early and elemental form of candle, which, however, 
was much in use among the peasantry of ge at the time of 
the Pilgrims’ embarkation. 

The holders for these rush lights were ee affairs and 
were copied from the forms with which the Pilgrims were 
familiar in the mother country. They were probably not used 
to any great extent and were in the nature of a makeshift until 
regular candles could be obtained or simple oil lamps. Conse- 
quently, genuine rush-light holders are rarely found and usu- 


of B. N. Gates, Worcester 


1OnN O 


Collect 


See pages 94, 95, 96 


THREE TIN WALL CANDLE HOLDERS, OLD TIN CANDLE BOX WITH 
ORIGINAL MOULDED CANDLES, RARE CLAY CANDLESTICK AND TIN TINDER BOX 


Pet Al Ge, 


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CANDLES AND CANDLE HOLDERS 93 


ally command high prices (that is, high to the casual collector, 
who merely looks at the crudity of the object without properly 
understanding its value as defined by its rareness). 

The collection of Mr. V. M. Hillyer is therefore of unusual 
interest to the reader, because it gathers in one group many of 
the extremely rare types as shown in Plate 3. I will give you 
Mr. Hillyer’s own description of these very fine primitive 
light holders. 

“‘ Rushes or the pith of cane or similar reeds or grasses were 
soaked in fat or grease and burned for light. The iron ladle 
in the centre is a ‘ rush-dipper ’ or ‘ rush-pot ? used for soaking 
rushes in the fat. The rushes when lighted were held by tongs 
or clips of which a variety of specimens are here shown. The 
first to the left is a simple pair of tongs with a chisel-like tongue 
at the base so that it could be driven into a crack in the wall, 
into a beam or into the floor and so hold the rush light in any 
position. ‘The second and third examples are similar holders 
- with wooden bases. The fourth example, which is later, has 
a socket for a candle in case this more expensive article could 
be obtained. In the fifth example the jaws are controlled by 
a double spring grip. 

“ The first on the back row at the left is a standing or floor 
rush-light holder with slide for adjusting the light to a desired 
height. It has both the rush-holder and candle-socket. The 
second at the back has a horizontal support to be driven into 
the ceiling beams and could be adjusted horizontally as well 
as vertically. The third at the back is one of the earliest forms 
of standing candle holders, with a crude folded socket for a 
single candle. The corkscrew or ‘ helix? candlestick at the ex- 
treme right lower corner was an improved form with an in- 
geniously arranged ‘ elevator ’ that wound up the helix to keep 
the candle raised as it burned.” 

A similar rush-light holder with a wooden block base and 
with the candle socket. also, is shown in Plate 109 from Mr. 


94 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


Cooney’s collection. This is a little better piece of workman- 
ship since the twisted stems indicate a slight attempt at orna- 
mentation. Mr. Cooney placed a wax taper (the nearest 
modern substitute for a rush light) in the iron jaw to give one 
the idea of its method of operation. 

Another very interesting early iron candle holder is the one 
owned by the Worcester Historical Society and shown in Plate 
13. It is intended to be hung from a beam or beside the fire- 
place and is adjustable by a very simple device, as may be read- 
ily seen. The fine work on the main stem being wanes it 
of course is an extremely rare piece. 

Very early, however, tin seems to have been especially fa- 
vored for candle holders. The collector who specializes in tin 
holders has a wide field for his search and I can assure him 
the game is sufficiently scarce and wary to make it an extremely 
interesting sporting proposition, if he is to be at all successful, 
necessitating patient searching and a well-filled pocketbook for 
ammunition. 

Probably one of the very early forms is that known as the 
“ sconce ” in which the candle is placed a bit in front of a 
piece of tin, which acts as a reflector as well as a draft protector 
for the candle flame. The first ones were crude affairs. The 
author shows two in Plate 38 and there is a very early one with | 
a square top and no attempt at ornamentation at all in Plate 
56 from Mr. Cooney’s collection, probably the earliest one 
shown. 

In Plate 68 there are two for tall candles from the fine col- 
lection owned by Mr. Gates — the one on the left showing a 
very simple attempt at decoration in the scallops around the 
top. Note how crudely the candle holder at the base is made. 
The one on the right has the top slightly crimped and in- 
curved with a bit of decoration up and down the sides. The 
candle holder is much better made. The little one at the right 
is interesting as being the smallest of this type that I have seen. 


Servers AND CANDLE HOLDERS 095 


The turned up base holding the candle is also an oddity. This 
size is extremely rare in this type. 

The collection of seven tin sconces in Plate 69 represents 
years of search on Mr. Gates’ part before he could get to- 
gether such an unusual collection. With the exception of the 
extraordinary pair in the center — a matched pair with a fancy 
reflector in perfect condition being very hard to find to-day — 
these show as great a variety in the form of the reflectors as in 
the candle holders themselves — no two being at all alike. 
They are well worth studying, for Mr. Luce with his camera 
has given such a very clear, fine picture that all details are 
brought out much better than by mere description. The one at 
the extreme right with the wooden block for a base has a slightly 
concave circular back covered with tiny pieces of looking glass 
fitted together with infinite skill, multiplying the light of the 
candle many times. These glass reflectors are extremely scarce. 
Usually the glass is in much larger sections and not nearly so 
carefully put together as this remarkable piece. This plate I 
consider one of the gems of the book and my thanks are due 
Mr. Gates for allowing me to use its subjects. 

Another candle holder of great interest is the tall tin one on 
Plate 13, also from Mr. Gates’ collection. This, as you will 
see by the print, is an iron rod standing some five feet high 
on a large funnel shaped tin base and supporting a flat round 
tin plate holding five candles. Note the round tin brace under 
the plate where the central rod goes through. 

In Plate 68, showing the candle sconces, is seen in the center 
a candle box, which was hung upon.the wall to contain an extra 
supply of candles. It was of tin and the later ones were some- 
times painted, but this one is probably fairly early. When 
Mr. Gates got it, it still held a supply of moulded candles, 
one of which in the picture is left sticking out under the 
lid. 


On the left in this group is a tinder box, one of the more 


96 COLONIAL LIGHWIne 


common tin variety with its crude candle holder on the top of 
the cover and the flint, steel, and tinder inside. 

While these tinder boxes are not so scarce as the sconces - 
mentioned above, it may and probably will necessitate some 
searching before a good specimen can be found. Another, from 
Mr. Cooney’s collection, slightly different in shape, and shal- 
lower, may be seen in Plate 56, and on the left of this plate one 
of the rare pistol tinders, described by Mr. Hillyer in his col- 
lection. This one is all of iron and is a rather heavy, clumsy 
device although in perfect working condition. The author was 
fortunate enough to find one some short time ago (the first 
that he has ever seen for sale), very similar except that the 
handle was carved wood and the two flat legs in front a little 
longer and not so clumsy. When found, it was perfect except 
that the trigger was missing. I took it to an old gun-smith who 
made a specialty of repairing old flint locks and other ancient 
arms and he cut out and fitted a trigger so that now it works 
perfectly — that is, I imagine one could get fire if his patience 
lasted long enough. Getting fire from flint and steel was a 
solemn, arduous business, not to be undertaken lightly or with- 
out due preparation of material and patience, particularly the 
latter. 

The other modest little piece in Plate 68 of Mr. Gates’ is an 
extremely rare earthenware chamber candlestick in perfect con- 
dition. This was made in Sterling, Massachusetts, of the com- 
mon red clay found in that vicinity, at one of the little local 
potteries which years ago were found in many rural commu- 
nities making the crudest and commonest jugs, pots, and the 
like. It probably was made about 1840. Since this early local 
pottery was easily broken and not valued much, a piece like 
this, in perfect condition, is not to be duplicated in years of 
search. 

A very quaint and unusual specimen, the property of the 
Worcester Historical Society, is shown in Plate 40. This they 


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feos AND CANDLE HOLDERS § 9Q7 


call an upright candle student lamp. The stand and the shade 
are made of tin and very well done, both the shade and the 
candle holder being adjustable on the square center rod which 
terminates in a brass ring for carrying. The rod starts from 
a deep tin saucer base, which is weighted with sand so that it 
is not easily tipped over. The curved arm which supports the 
candle holder is very prettily made. This lamp was used by 
Elijah Demond while he was a student at Dartmouth College 
and Andover Seminary in 1816 to 1820. He graduated from 
the Seminary, was ordained a minister, and settled over the 
church in Holliston, Massachusetts, about 1832. He died in 
Westboro, Massachusetts, in July, 1877. 

Plate 61 shows Mr. Gates’ very choice collection of candle- 
sticks, in a variety of material as well as shapes. 

The first one on the extreme left is probably the oldest of 
the lot. It is of iron and was locally sometimes called a “‘ pork- 
barrel ” candlestick, from the fact that the lip of iron protrud- 
ing from the top of the stick was found very convenient, when 
the housewife went down into the cellar for a piece of salt 
pork, to hang the candle on the edge of the pickle barrel while 
she was selecting just the piece she wanted. These sticks were 
also known in country districts as “‘ hog scrapers.” In the win- 
ter or fall when the hogs were killed and salted down for the 
winter’s supply of meat, after they had been scalded, these 
strong iron candlesticks were found very convenient for re- 
moving the bristles. This stick has the iron slide and is further 
ornamented with a brass ring about half way up the cylin- 
der. 

The stick at the extreme right with the square base and the 
one in the center with the very large and deep base are both 
of tin and I should judge came next in point of age. They 
are both out of the ordinary in shape and illustrate quite well 
the interesting variations which one is apt to find at any time. 

I cannot imagine why the center stick had such a tremen- 


98 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


dously big base, for it seems out of all proportion and must 
have been made so for some special purpose. 

The second and third sticks and the last but one with the 
square base and handle are made of brass. The tallest is one 
of those patent sticks with a concealed spring inside which 
gently presses the candle up against the top. The top is re- 
moved, the candle inserted, pressing down the spring, and the 
cap fastened back in place, leaving the top of the candle pro- 
truding from the hole. 

The smaller brass saucer stick has an odd handle like a sauce- 
pan. The large brass stick with the ring handle and quaint 
four-sided, turned-up base and candle holder with slide, is 
called a “loom ” stick — just why I do not know, for I can- 
not see any particular reason why this type should light a 
weaver busy at her loom better than any other stick. The re- 
maining two are a beautiful pair of pewter — perfectly 
matched and of most attractive design — all together a choice 
collection in four metals. 

There has just been sent to me from a collector of New 
York City, Mrs. Henry A. Murray, a photograph of a most 
unusual candle sconce which you will see in Plate 63. Ina 
very shallow box are three large pewter reflectors of curious 
design, made, so I am informed, by pouring the melted pewter 
over cut and polished glass. The rest of the space is filled by 
eight smaller pewter disks, which are there evidently more for 
ornament than for any use. This box hangs flat against the 
wall. Fastened at the bottom is an ordinary tin candle holder 
with a crimped saucer base and a similar piece of tin over the 
top. A very curious and original design in a sconce. 

If one is collecting sconces, odd, unusual ones are the rule 
rather than the exception, and it is quite difficult to get two 
which are approximately alike, the variety is so great. 

Plate 64 shows a tin sconce with a most fascinating reflector 
in an unusual design. Though I am not sure (never having 


VaNDLCES AND CANDLE HOLDERS 99 


seen the original from which this was made) I should say the 
reflector was of pressed or perhaps cut glass silvered. It would 
give a pretty series of reflections of the flame from the single 
candle in the simple tin holder in front. 

Coming back to the more recent candlesticks, one or two 
oddities may be seen in Plates 52 and 39. The first shows a 
hand candlestick of either tin or brass with quaintly ham- 
mered designs; a broad flat saucer, from one side of which 
stands the candle holder with its mica chimney to steady the 
flame against drafts, and next to it in the saucer a small covered 
box evidently intended for lucifers as the early matches were 
called. Though not old, an attractive piece for a collec- 
tor. 

Plate 39 is a pair of brass folding candlesticks owned by 
Mrs. A. C. Marble of Worcester. The two candle holders 
with attached rings for carrying may be unscrewed and put 
inside one of the saucer bases while the other base screws on it 
like a cover, thus making a neat, flat, round package which 
may easily be carried in the pocket. I am told these sticks were 
made for the use of officers in our Civil War. 

In the chapter on glass lamps you will read a bit about the 
glass making industry which flourished on Cape Cod. The 
products of the Sandwich Glass Works are eagerly sought by 
collectors to-day. 

Besides glass dishes of all kinds, they made great quantities 
of lamps and some glass candlesticks though not in nearly the 
quantity of their lamps. These candlesticks, particularly the 
very early moulded ones, are well worth collecting because they 
are graceful in design, the glass itself is of a bright silvery tex- 
ture, and their rarity makes their successful hunting sufficiently 
difficult to be interesting. In Plate 75 is shown a group of 
Sandwich candlesticks which have been gathered together by 
Mr. B. N. Gates of Worcester. You may notice when you 
come to the glass lamps that some of the bases are similar. 


100 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


This is quite natural because the same moulds were often used 
for bases for lamps, candlesticks and table dishes. 

What I say regarding the Sandwich lamps holds equally true 
in candlesticks, that as these pieces were rarely if ever marked, 
it is impossible to determine absolutely, beyond a shadow of 
a doubt, whether they were made at Sandwich, Cambridge, or 
some of the other glass factories of New England and other 
states; although many dealers who are constantly handling old 
glass claim in all sincerity that they can tell by the looks and 
“ feel ” of the glass its certain place of origin. 

In this group the tallest stick in the center is a beautiful — 
shade of aquamarine blue and is SUD Re to have been blown 
in New York State. 

The remaining sticks are all attributed to Sandwich. The 
one on the extreme left with the stepped base is a fine piece 
of that tint called vaseline yellow and there are two specimens 
of that opalescent glass which was quite characteristic of Sand- 
wich, the taller one moulded in the figure of a beautiful 
woman. Of the four in the front row, the tulip-shaped tops 
you will note are precisely alike, while they are combined 
with bases in three entirely different patterns. 

Plate 72 shows a small but very interesting group of Sand- 
wich candlesticks, most of them of the famous “ dolphin ” pat- 
tern. These were selected from the large collection of this 
particular design which Mrs. Geo. W. Mitton of Jamaica 
Plain has gathered together. These range in color from the 
opalescent stick on the right to ultramarine blue, vaseline yel- 
low and other colors as well as clear glass. The candlestick 
at the left is a rare pattern in the opaque glass. In the center 
is a small dish with the dolphin pattern for a standard and 
back of it a moulded Sandwich peg lamp, placed in a Sheffield 
holder. 

A very unusual and wonderfully beautiful pair of moulded 
glass candlesticks are shown in Plate 73 by courtesy of the 


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Courtesy of Jordan Marsh Company, Boston 


PATE See page I00 


PAIR OF MOULDED AND CUT SANDWICH GLASS CANDLESTICKS 
WITH LUSTERS 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


PLAT E*77 See page 32 


POCKET LIGHTING OUTFIT — FLINT, STEEL AND WOODEN Tint Re oas 


CANDLES AND CANDLE HOLDERS oor 


Jordan Marsh Company. Of a rich and graceful design and 
moulded in that sparkling silvery glass which was a guarded 
secret at the Sandwich works, they would grace any table or 
drawing room in which they were placed. The tops have a 
wide flare where the candles enter and the top edge is cut in 
points. ‘Their beauty is further enriched by a row of cut lusters 
which hang on tiny wires from the base of the candle holders, 
giving an effect of airy grace and beauty which is hard to de- 
scribe. 

There is one more subject which should properly be con- 
sidered in this chapter and that comprises snuffers and extin- 
guishers. 

Snuffers were cutting instruments like scissors for trimming 
the wicks of candles or lamps. They were made in a variety of 
shapes and materials, iron, steel or brass for common use and 
Sheffield plate or coin silver for the more elaborate ones. A 
small tray was often used with the snuffers on which they 
were kept, painted tin or iron for the common ones and with 
the silver usually a tray of the same material to match. 

Plate 62 is a photograph of a few items from the collection 
of Mr. V. M. Hillyer of Baltimore, and I append his own 
description of the articles in this plate. 

“¢ Snuffers are the scissor-like instruments for trimming the 
wicks of candles or lamps. An extinguisher is a cone-shaped 
cap for putting out the flame. 

“Tt is a common error to call an extinguisher, snuffers. I 
have even heard it argued that snuffers was the proper name, 
although ‘ extinguisher ’ was meant, the expression ‘ snuff out 
a candle? being cited as proof. This expression, however, was 
used to indicate a bungling operation, for it was not uncommon 
for one unintentionally to put out the candle when snuffing 
it. 

“ The burnt wick end was called ‘ snuff ? and hence the name 
snuffers. With old-fashioned dip or moulded candles the wick 


102 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


was not entirely consumed and it was necessary to clip off the 
charred end of the wick more or less frequently, as otherwise 
it dimmed the flame and made it smoky. Now-a-days, the 
candle wicks are entirely consumed, making such ‘ snuffing’ 
unnecessary, but candlesticks, especially the so-called ‘ Shef- 
field’ are still made with snuffers and extinguishers attached 
just for ornament, apparently, as they no longer serve any 
useful purpose. 

“The oldest snuffers were simply scissors with one broad 
blade and a lip to catch the snuff, which was then thrown into 
the fireplace, on the floor, or — in a more tidy home — into a 
tray on which the snuffers rested or into a ‘ wick-end’ box. 
Then came snuffers with a box om the blade. This box was 
elaborate in various ways as shown in the other examples. The 
last pair of snuffers to the right are for use with an Argand 
burner in which the wick was tubular. 

“Candles were ‘ extinguished? instead of being blown out 
to prevent the disagreeable smoke and odor which resulted if 
an extinguisher was not used and also to put out candles which 
were out of blowing reach. 

“‘ An extinguisher was almost always a simple cone of metal 
with a projection by which it might be hooked into the socket 
provided on the candlestick as in the first example. The sec- 
ond extinguisher with the long handle was used to reach a can- 
dle enclosed by a ‘ hurricane? glass or other globe. The third 
extinguisher had a socket at its side into which a wooden rod 
was inserted so that candles at a height could be reached. The 
fourth extinguisher is a more ornamental French one resem- 
bling a night cap on which is written the words ‘ Bon Soir? 
(good-night). 

“Taper sticks, three of which are shown on the back row 
at the left, are scissor-like tweezers — resembling snuffers 
elevated on a stand. Indeed so quickly are the customs of a 
past generation forgotten unless recorded in print, that I have 


CANDLES AND CANDLE HOLDERS 102 


even found dealers who thought such taper sticks were merely 
a peculiar form of snuffers. Tapers which were simply a 
thread-like wick soaked in wax or tallow came wound on a 
spool. They were placed over the upright rod of the taper 
stick, the tweezers being unscrewed for the purpose, and the 
end was then held between the jaws of the tweezers. The first 
taper stick is of iron, the second is of brass with dolphin feet 
and the third is also of brass.” 

There were in use generally in the Southern States where 
the weather conditions favored many open windows, tall glass 
cylinders, open at both ends and bulging in the middle, often 
standing from twenty to thirty inches tall, called abatjours or 
candle shades, which were placed over the lighted candles to 
protect the flame against draughts and keep the light steady. 
These were usually of plain blown glass, but later they cut 
and ornamented them with the emery wheel. 

A pair of these glasses over handsome Sheffield candlesticks 
would give an atmosphere of elegance to an otherwise plain 
room. 

Unfortunately, as they were so large and difficult to handle 
except with the greatest care, they were easily broken and to- 
day are among the very hardest of lighting devices to find. I 
was fortunate to secure the photograph of this beautiful pair 
in Plate 67 from the collection of Mr. Henry Ford. While 
they are probably of later date than many, they are an interest- 
ing pair, in perfect condition, and show the “ hurricane glass ”’, 
as they were often called in New England, at its most elegant 
period. 

The group of patent candlesticks in Plate 16, also from Mr. 
Henry Ford’s collection, is of interest to the lamp collector. 
All of the candle tubes are fitted with coiled springs at the 
bottom. These springs are forced down when the candle is in- 
serted and held in position by the cap over the top. The 
gentle pressure of the spring keeps the burning wick always in 


104 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


the same position, an arrangement necessary to get the benefit 
of the reflectors which are on the two stands at the right. 

The candlestick at the left has no reflector but in its place a 
glass globe, ground above and clear below, which steadies the 
flame. 

The first two have an ingenious arrangement of small brass 
rods which extend just over the opening for the top of the 
candle and act as automatic snuffers. The stick at the right is 
made for two candles and has a metal chimney with a flared 
opening in the center in front. This, painted white or tinned, 
acts as a reflector for the double flame as well as a protector 
against disturbing air currents. 


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CHAPTER VI 
EARLY GLASS LAMPS 


Neary one hundred years ago, in 1825 to be exact, a few 
men appeared in one of the little farming and fishing hamlets 
that are scattered all along the sandy hills of that hook of land 
running out into the Atlantic from the rocky shores of New 
England and christened by the Pilgrims Cape Cod. These 
men purchased a tract of land in the village of Sandwich, built 
small houses for themselves and other workmen, and erected 
a furnace for the manufacture of flint glass. 

This Sandwich enterprise was not the first venture in the 
blowing of glass in New England. Several glass works were 
established quite early. One at Salem, Massachusetts, said to 
have been started in 1639, did quite a thriving business for a 
number of years, manufacturing glass bottles and table ware. 
There seems, however, to be some doubt of the existence of 
this factory thus early, since its products have entirely disap- 
peared. About 1750 some German workmen started glass 
works in what is now a part of Quincy, Massachusetts, where 
they made a large variety of glassware, among which were 
several styles of lamps. A distinguishing feature of the prod- 
ucts of this factory was a peculiar spiral twist which was given 
to the uprights of the lamps and sometimes also to the handles; 
but the glass itself was of poor quality. 

In 1780, in the town of Temple, New Hampshire, Robert 
Hewes established glass works and manufactured glass lamps 
which were said to be of artistic merit. One can distinguish 
the products of this factory because all were made to use 
patented burners, with the wick tubes coming through perfo- 
rated cork, instead of the usual pewter or brass caps. 


as COLONIAL LIGHTING 


In 1787 a factory was built in Boston for the manufacture 
of window and other glass. This factory, which had a struggle 
for existence for several years, finally established itself, and, 
we are told, was given the exclusive right by charter to the 
manufacture of window glass. With increasing business in‘ 
1811 they sent to England for more skilled workmen, but 
when the war with England came on, they were unable to get 
the men and were obliged to use flint-glass blowers, previously 
brought over. 
~ About this time another glass blowing company was formed 
in Cambridge for the manufacture of articles in both porcelain 
and glass, but this company seems to have been short-lived and 
was soon on the financial rocks. A new company, known as 
the New England Glass Works, was formed in 1817 to take 
over the equipment, was successful from the start, and con- 
tinued in business in Cambridge until late in the nineteenth 
century when it moved its factory West. 

The founders of the Sandwich factory were undoubtedly 
workmen from either the Boston or the Cambridge plants. 
They must have had an accurate and detailed knowledge of 
the business, for the enterprise seems to have been a success 
from the start. Commencing — as Mrs. Lenore Wheeler Wil- 
liams tells us in her interesting little book “ Sandwich Glass ” 
devoted to the products of this factory — with some sixty 
workmen and an equipment of an eight-pot furnace, each pot 
holding eight hundred pounds, so successful were they in 
producing at a moderate cost glassware of pleasing appearance, 
that a steady expansion took place, so that by 1853 the com- 
pany was employing some five hundred men and running four 
furnaces of ten pots each, with a weekly melt of approximately 
one hundred thousand pounds. At this time and for some 
years following this industry was by far the most important 
on the Cape. 

With this array of workmen, large for those times, one can 


me 


EARLY GLASS LAMPS 107 


readily understand that enormous quantities of glassware of 
many kinds were produced and liberally distributed through 
the towns and villages of most of New England and adjoining 
States. It is even maintained that the company owned and 
kept one or more sailing vessels with which to distribute their 
products to the coast towns and cities. 

At the commencement of this enterprise, the ae means of 
producing articles in glass was the blowpipe —an arduous, 
unhealthy vocation, requiring brawny muscles and a high de- 
gree of skill. In 1827, a workman at the Cambridge glass 
factory invented the mould machine which was at once adopted 
by the Sandwich Company and perfected by them. At first, 
however, this device still required the use of the blowpipe; 
for the glass was forced by blowing into the uneven surface 
of the mould, where the melted glass easily adapted itself to 
the most delicate and intricate carvings of the soft iron. Later 
the stamping machines came into general use, substituting for 
the blowpipes iron ladles with which to pour the molten glass. 
The use of the pipe in early moulding explains the mystery of 
the “ pontil ” mark, or rough place where the end of the blow- 
pipe has been broken off or separated from the article made, 
which appears often on the bottom of lamps, drinking glasses 
and other pieces of “ pressed” glass. Those articles were 
made before the machine was used to stamp or press the glass 
into the mould, while pieces were blown into the mould by the 
use of the pipe, which left its irregular mark on the bottom. 
Of course, on the later articles of poured moulded glass no such 
mark appears. 

At the time when this Sandwich enterprise started, the lamps 
in general use— pewter, tin and brass—had generally 
adopted the Franklin invention of a double enclosed round 
wick, and were burning whale oil. The Sandwich Company 
early realized that a glass lamp of graceful design which could 
be made to sell for a small sum would probably find a ready 


108 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


and rapidly expanding market all through the countryside. 
They, therefore, early commenced the making of glass lamps 
and, to a more limited extent, of glass candlesticks. On this 
branch of their industry we will focus our attention because 
this and similar glass companies, to a very large extent, directed 
the trend of the expansion and improvements in artificial 
illumination for some few years. 

The early lamps were usually quite simple in design, a 
graceful, flaring, round or square base held an oval font 
terminating in a brass or pewter cap, the cover of which 
screwed on and contained two wick tubes that allowed the ends 
of the wicks to drop down into the oil fonts. Some of these 
lamps show very plainly the pontil mark at the base. All the 
early Sandwich glass is noted for the peculiar silvery brilliance, 
a characteristic which the modern pressed glass rarely or never 
has. It is said that the early pressed glass was reheated several 
times, enough to melt a very thin layer at the surface, thus 
removing any slight roughness which might remain from the 
mould and making the surface smooth and bright. “ Fire- 
polishing ” the process was called. 

The silvery luster was also due to the materials used, the 
formula for the glass differing somewhat from that of the 
Cambridge plant. In fact, each glass factory used its own 
formula and guarded with jealous care its secrets that they 
might not be used by rival plants. 

Later, other plants were started in Connecticut, New Jersey, 
Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc., but comparatively few pieces of 
domestic glass are found in this part of New England aside 
from the products of these two plants in Sandwich and Cam- 
bridge. ) 

At first the amateur collector is amazed at the quantities 


and varieties of glass lamps which he finds practically in every — 


antique dealer’s shop which he enters; but when he stops to 
consider the very large output of these two factories — par- 


= 
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Peek GLASS LAMPS 109 


ticularly the Sandwich one, as indicated by the number of men 
employed, the size of the weekly melt, and the number of 
years when it was in active operation — the number of lamps 
which may be picked up to-day is not so surprising and need 
not lead to apprehension of counterfeits. Another reason why 
they are found so scattered all over New England in every 
little out of the way village and hamlet is the long famous but 
now almost extinct peddler’s cart. 

These brightly painted travelling stores with their stock of 
kitchen utensils, dry goods, notions, and innumerable other 
articles attractive to the housewives of the country farming 
districts were once a familiar sight along any country road. 
With their fat, sleek pairs of horses and shrewd-eyed Yankee 
drivers, they were the means by which thousands of lamps 
were taken from the towns along the shores of Maine, Massa- 
chusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island where they had been 
left by the coasting vessels and distributed all through the less 
thickly settled sections. Some of the fortunes of to-day 
received their first start from the contents of the old-time New 
England peddler’s cart. | 

One curious fact that the antique collector notes is that there 
seem to be fashions in collecting as in matters of clothing. 
Some years ago, every one seemed to be collecting the old 
blue china, particularly historic pieces. I have been in auction 
rooms in Boston and seen most extravagant prices paid for rare 
plates, cups, and other pieces by eager collectors who seemed 
to have no limit to what they would gladly pay for a much 
desired piece. To-day, though good old blue china always 
finds a market, no such high prices are asked or obtained. 

At another time, the luster wares, copper and silver, were 
in just as keen a demand, which far outran the supply and 
consequently kept the prices up. To-day the beautiful old 
luster wares are almost neglected. If one has the patience to 
wait and in the meantime quietly enjoy his own collection, the 


110 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


demand for all these will in time come back, probably with 
renewed vigor. With the constant withdrawal of pieces from 
the markets into private collections and the constantly diminish- 
ing sources of supply — old attics and closets are by now well 
scoured — the real scarcity of these desirable antiques is likely 
at any time to start another furor for them. 

Just now “ hooked-in ” rugs and Sandwich glass seem to be 
most in the public eye — particularly the latter. Some very 
high prices are being paid for pieces in the rarer designs of 
Sandwich glass, particularly cup plates. The lamps in this 
glass are also enjoying quite a bit of popularity along with the 
other pieces turned out by the factory on the Cape, and signs 
are not wanting of an awakened interest in early lighting 
appliances in general. 

Since glass lamps are among the easiest to find of all lighting 
devices and since there is at present such a widespread .nterest 
in the old glass in general, I have secured photographs of a 
large number of the varied designs in which these lamps were 
made. 

I have often heard the question asked, and in fact have asked 
it myself of dealers who are handling glass all the time, 
“ How can you distinguish Sandwich glass from the products 
of the Cambridge and other factories? ” Most of them will 
tell you that there is a texture or quality to the glass of one 
factory different from that of the others which long experience 
in handling enables them to detect, thus differentiating the one 
from the others. This is undoubtedly true to a somewhat 
limited extent; but the keen rivalry between the different glass 
establishments, the desire to imitate and outdo the successes of 
their rivals, the going of skilled workmen from one plant to 
another, carrying of course some of the secrets of formulae and 
manufacture with them to competing plants, the copying of 
each other’s designs, and the fact that glass made in different 
places is often absolutely identical to the amateur; —all this 


PARDY GLASS LAMPS III 


makes me think that many times the positive source of a piece 
is claimed when the evidence is far from conclusive. 

I was interested while writing this to see in the Boston 
Transcript a notice of an exhibition by the Society for the Pres- 
ervation of New England Antiquities — the society, which has 
done much to save many historic old landmarks, owns outright 
some six or eight fine old houses, and helps to save and pre- 
serve many more. This exhibition was a loan collection of cup 
plates and other early pressed glass dishes. It was held in the 
fine old Boston mansion of Harrison Gray Otis, which the 
society has restored and uses as its headquarters. The account 
goes on to say, “‘ This collection would probably be classed 
as Sandwich glass by most collectors. There seems to be no 
reason to doubt that the greater number are of Sandwich 
derivation, for they have the iridescent quality which seems to 
be a feature of much of the glass of that character. 

“A number of pieces, however, are somewhat dull in 
appearance and it may be questioned whether these are Sand- 
wich or from the New England Glass Company’s works in 
Cambridge. 

“¢ At one time each of these companies was employing about 
five hundred hands, so that the output must have been about 
equal. In spite of this fact, it is the Sandwich Glass Works 
which has caught the ear of the public and to this factory is 
ascribed about everything of merit that seems to have a New 
England origin. Neither public nor private collections have 
any pieces attributed to the factory in East Cambridge.” (I 
wonder if this is strictly true.) ‘ On November 8th, 1851, in 
Gleason’s Pictorial there was published a short article devoted 
to the East Cambridge plant of the New England Glass Com- 
pany, illustrated with a picture of the plant as seen from the 
water.” 

This article says, “‘ Every description of glassware, from a 
simple pressed wine-glass to the most elaborately cut and rich 


112 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


plated, gilded, silvered, and engraved glassware is produced 
here ina style of beauty and excellence unrivalled in the world, 
and far surpassing in beauty the finest manufactures of 
Bohemia.” 

It does seem strange, therefore, that the products of this 
factory, equipped apparently to do all kinds of most excellent 
work, should be so very scarce, while that of their rival on the 
Cape should be found in such abundance. Since it is extremely 
rare in glass to find a piece bearing the imprint of its place of 
manufacture, does it not seem reasonable at least to surmise 
that some of the pieces now masquerading as “ Oh, yes indeed, 
Madam! genuine Sandwich glass without a doubt! ” may really 
have been made here just across the Charles? In Plate 85 is 
shown a rare old handbill of the New England Glass Co. 
giving a view of its works along the banks of the Charles 
River with a brief list of some of its products. 

If you have a good piece, I don’t know that it makes a 
great deal of difference which factory turned it out. You 
may call it Sandwich or New England as you decide; the 
burden of proof lies with the doubter to show that you are 
wrong. I should like, however, to see some one competent 
enough to decide upon a general classification of the output of 
these two rival plants and to decide upon some standard or 
formula for a division, if such a thing were possible. Perhaps 
as interest in the early glass grows, this may be accomplished. 

Doctor Norton’s collection, most of which is probably Sand- 
wich glass, shows the variety of design which a collector may 
expect to find. In Plate 76 the tallest lamp in the top row — 
an interesting piece in itself with its square, many-stepped base 
and long bulb-shaped oil font — was used by the poet, Henry 
Wadsworth Longfellow. The tall burners with their brass 
thimble caps were meant for camphene. The tall lamp — 
immediately under it, numbered 133, has a cut font and a 
rather unusual-shaped base above the steps. These combina- 


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fern oys GLASS LAMPS 113 


tions of partly cut and partly moulded work are not uncommon. 
This lamp was secured by Doctor Norton from a relative of 
General Joseph Hooker, who used it in his old home at Had- 
ley, Massachusetts. Numbers 98 and 249 are glass “ spark ” 
lamps, the first of a particularly graceful shape. Number 138 
is a good example of a glass “peg” lamp. Its cut oil font 
and camphene burners indicate that it is not one of the very 
early ones. 

“Peg ” lamps received their name from the peg-like base, 
the size and shape of a section of candle, and were intended to 
be used in the top of a candlestick. Usually they will not stand 
upright, and, I presume, for that reason were the more easily 
broken. Good specimens are much harder to find than other 
lamps. This is the only one which Doctor Norton has. 

The first two lamps in this Plate Number 76, not par- 
ticularly uncommon in their design, both came from the South. 
Number 99 was used in the State Capitol of Alabama as late 
as 1855, and Number 227 was found in the Confederate 
Hospital at Vicksburg, Mississippi, after the siege and sur- 
render of that city. Number 230, a small chamber lamp burn- 
ing camphene, is one of the many patented lamps spoken of in 
the next chapter. This lamp is stamped “J. Dreyfus, Pat. 
May 21, 1867”, though just what was patented it is hard to 
say. The moulded base of the last lamp in the top row is good. 
The beautiful pair of opaque glass lamps numbered 272 at the 
end of the second row in this Plate 76 were known as bridal 
lamps. This opaque glass seems to have been much in demand, 
for one finds a number of designs in dishes, lamps and candle- 
sticks of this glass coming from the Sandwich factory. 

In the second plate (81) from Doctor Norton’s collection, 
the distinguished looking lamp in the center of the top row, 
Number 307, does not belie its appearance, for it was a gift to 
Doctor Norton from the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, who 
had used it in his home in Amesbury, Massachusetts. The 


114 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


very long font is ground and decorated, and the base is the 
familiar Sandwich step. 

Patterns of Sandwich glass were used in various combina- 
tions. You will often find two lamps with the same base but 
entirely different oil fonts, or similar tops with the bases 
different. Compotes and small fruit and cake dishes also used 
for the bases a lamp pattern. 

It is stated that early in its history the Sandwich Glass Works 
used oil fonts which were imported from England, welding 
them (if that is the proper term) on to moulded bases of 
domestic manufacture. Certainly, lamps occasionally found 
to-day with bases of an entirely different quality of glass from 
the tops tend to substantiate this story. I suspect that, if this 
was the case, as seems probable, the Cape Cod works either 
could not obtain the metal tops for the wicks or else had no 
means of fitting them to the lamps which they were making. 
So they found it easier to buy in England the glass tops ready 
fitted with metal wick holders and to join them to their own 
bases, a process, by the way, which few workmen to-day could 
successfully perform. 

The first lamp, Number 145, in the top row of Plate 81 
came from the glass works established, much earlier than the 
Sandwich factory, at Germantown, now a part of Quincy. By 
looking very closely one can distinguish in the stem at the 
bottom of the oil font the slight spiral twist which is said to be 
one of the distinguishing marks of the product of this factory. 

The pair of lamps numbered 154, with cut glass fonts, 
pretty octagonal standards, and square bases formed part of 
the furnishings of the Governor’s private room in the first 
Capitol building of the State of Maine. 

This plate seems to be a page of historic lamps, for almost 
every one shown here has a history. Number 242, the last on 
the top row, has a pewter base and a glass camphene burning 
top. I suspect it may be a peg lamp placed in this pewter 


BARICY GLASS LAMPS IT5 


candlestick. At any rate, it was a part of the furnishings of the 
old McLean House at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, and 
was on the mantelpiece of the parlor when the terms of 
surrender were arranged there between Lee and Grant on 
that memorable 9th of April, 1865. 

A lamp of equal interest, also closely connected with our 
great Civil War, is Number 201 in the center of the bottom 
row. This lamp is in itself unusual in that it has a plain glass, 
octagonal oil font supported by a fancy brass pedestal on a 
marble base. The identical lamp used by Mrs. Harriet Beecher 
Stowe while writing her immortal book “ Uncle Tom’s 
Cabin ”, it was presented to Doctor Norton by her husband, 
Doctor C. E. Stowe, who certified to the above fact. 

The hand lamp numbered 114 gains a prominent place from 
the fact that it was once the property of Betty Mayberry, one 
of the local heroines of the War of 1812. 

The pair of tall cut-glass Colonial lamps numbered 83 in 
this Plate 81 have ground decorations on the oil fonts and 
square step bases. The pair was used in the home of Andrew 
Clapp, the first mayor of Portland, Maine, in 1832. 

The last lamp of this unusual collection, Number 253, 1s 
also a Civil War relic. Of the color called vaseline-yellow 
which is so sought for by Sandwich glass collectors, it formed 
part of the furnishings of the brick house in Montgomery, 
Alabama, which was used by President Jefferson Davis and 
was known as the “‘ White House ” of the Confederacy. 

The three plates numbered 82, 84 and 88 represent a part 
of the very extensive collection of Sandwich glass gathered 
together by the Jordan Marsh Company of Boston, whose 
antique department contains many interesting and unusual 
pieces of furniture and china as well as glass. They very 
courteously allowed Mr. Colby to photograph some of their 
lamps as good examples of the better known patterns from 


Sandwich. 


116 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


The reader by studying this collection may have an oppor- 
tunity to see for himself what I spoke of earlier — the com- 
bining of the same base moulds with different oil font patterns 
and vice versa. The base of the pair of lamps in the center 
of Plate 88 is repeated in the bases of lamps in Plate 84 which 
have entirely different oil fonts. The Sandwich designers seem 
to have paid more attention to the oil fonts than to the bases, 
for there are many more different designs for the upper than 
for the lower parts. The bases of the two outside lamps in 
Plate 84 are identical but the tops differ. This base appears 
again in the second lamp in Plate 82 which has still a third top. 

Though, no doubt, many of the old lamps were sold, and 
intended to be used, as pairs, it is somewhat difficult to-day to 
get two in perfect condition which exactly match. Plate 88 
shows three perfectly matched pairs in proof condition. The 
first two on the left show the “ Hob Nail ” pattern on a grace- 
ful, six-sided base. The central pair, though quite similar 
in shape and general appearance, have the “ hob nails ” smaller 
and the pattern more pronounced. This is called the “ Hob 
Nail Diamond ” pattern. 

The last two on the right are known as the “ Gothic Win- 
dow ” design (one of them being retouched to show the pattern 
more clearly), a name which fits quite nicely. The remaining 
smaller odd lamps on this Plate 88 are both severely plain 
without any attempt at decoration and are known respectively 
as the “ Urn ” and the “ Balloon ” designs. 

In Plate 84 the only pair here shown have been modernized 
by kerosene wicks, glass chimneys, and shades which to my 
mind detract from the grace and beauty of the old designs. 
The lamps themselves were so good that I wanted them shown 


even with the modern improvements (?). They are lovely 


examples of the much used “ Heart ” designs for which the 
Sandwich factory was famous. These “ hearts” in a great 
many different patterns and groupings were used on many of 


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Paw by. GEASS LAMPS 117 


the little glass cup-plates which are being so enthusiastically 
collected at the present time, as well as on larger plates and 
other dishes. 

The first at the left is a fine piece of the “ Ripple ” design, 
perhaps suggested by the marks left by the receding tides on 
the clean white sand of the many beaches along the shores of 
Cape Cod. The base is of the “ Mushroom ” type. 

This design is repeated again in the last lamp on this page 
and also in the second lamp of Plate 82. The second lamp 
on Plate 84 shows the “ Star and Full Moon”, not very com- 
monly seen. Number 4, next to the first heart lamp, is an 
interesting example of the early combining of imported tops 
and Sandwich domestic bases. The oil chamber is blown and 
beautifully cut English glass, of an entirely different texture 
from the base, which is silvery early Sandwich. 

Number 5 on Plate 84 is another variety of the “ Heart ” 
combined with the “ Hob Nail.” Number 6 has a “ Balloon ” 
font ornamented with the “ Long Loop ” pattern. Number 8 
is a combination “ Loop ” and “ Ring.” The last, a very plain, 
clear, panelled oil receptacle on the pretty mushroom base, 
makes, to my mind, a very graceful lamp. 

The last group from the Jordan Marsh Company collection, 
shown in Plate 82, comprises single lamps. The first on the 
left with the plain “ Mushroom” base shows a simple 
‘Loop ” design on the bowl. The next lamp has a combina- 
tion “ Loop” and “Ring” pattern on the “ Mushroom” - 
base already familiar in the other plates. The third is a small 
camphene hand-lamp with a pretty handle and rather odd- 
shaped panelled font, an unusually graceful and quaint little 
chamber lamp. Number 4 has a deeply indented oil font, 
quite at variance with any of the others shown. This pattern 
is the “ Tulip ” design. The base is round instead of six-sided. 

The one in the center is a piece of the “ Thumb-Print ” 
pattern, indented circles as if one had pressed his thumb over 


118 COLONIAL LIGH Tig 


its flat surface at regular intervals. This pattern is more often 
seen in fruit dishes than in lamps. The author has a large, 
round fruit dish on a lamp base, the entire surface of which is 
covered with these indented thumb prints graduated in size, the 
larger at the top. 

Number 6 is the “ Heart and Honey-Comb”, another 
variant of the very popular Sandwich “ Heart.” The second 
hand lamp shows a modified form of “ Hob-Nail ” alternating 
with three “ Thumb Prints.” The lamp itself is not so pleas- 
ing and graceful as the other. The next tall lamp is particu- 
larly interesting because it shows well the rare “ Cable ” de- 
sign. When the first Atlantic cable was laid, it was a matter 
of great wonder and immense importance from a commercial 
point of view. To celebrate the event, the Sandwich people 
developed this design, using the twisted strands of the cable 
asa motif. It can be seen distinctly running up and down the 
sides of the oil font. The last lamp has a striped oil chamber 
of unusual shape on the “ Mushroom ” base. 

I have spent some time in descriptions and given my readers 
prints of many lamps that they may familiarize themselves 
with various designs as much as possible. If they are not al- 
ready collectors and intend taking up this branch of antique 
collecting, glass lamps will probably be the easiest to start with. 
If they have collections of their own, these few pages may 
help a bit to identify designs and to distinguish older from 
later pieces. 

I am including one Plate 77 of glass lamps from my own 
collection, not because there is anything especially striking 
about them, but simply to encourage the beginner and to show 
what an interesting variety may be picked up to-day. at a very 
small expense. As I recall it, I do not think I paid over three 
dollars for any lamp here and for some of them much less. 
Most of them are probably of Sandwich origin, for I picked 
up nearly all in the Cape Cod country. The lamp on the ex- 


Pony GHRASS LAMPS 119 


treme right may be of English origin. At least the oil font, 
which 1s cut, looks like English glass. The tall lamp near the 
center with the long, straight oil font is unusual in having a 
small intermediary blown-glass section between the oil-holding 
top and the solid base. In “ Sandwich Glass ” Mrs. Williams 
tells us that “a blown receptacle for the oil fused to a molded 
base often had a beautiful blown center section.” The third 
tall lamp from the left with two long camphene wicks is an 
early glass “peg” lamp put into a pewter candlestick base. 
There are two or three very good specimens of the small glass 
“‘ sparking ” lamps in this group. The slender moulded base 
and top-shaped oil font on the lamp a little to the right of the 
center shows an interesting variation from the other more solid 
and heavy lamps. Although, as I have said, there is repre- 
sented here nothing of any especial merit, the variety makes a 
collection from which I derive a great deal of pleasure as I 
look at it from day to day in my cabinets. | 

Of much more worth and merit is the group of lamps in 
Plate 78, beautifully photographed by Mr. Luce from Mr. 
Gates’ collection. If you have familiarized yourself with the 
patterns on the Jordan Marsh Company’s lamps, you will 
recognize and be able to name some of these. Again you will 
see some more of the Sandwich base designs and one or two 
others of especial interest, for example, the bases of the first 
two lamps and the last two. The central lamp has quite an 
unusual design —a wine-glass base and round, squat, cam- 
phene-burning top. It looks like an aristocrat among 
commoners. 

In Plate 79 the first two lamps, from Mr. Gates’ collection, 
and the last three, from Mrs. Albert C. Marble’s, both of 
Worcester, Massachusetts, are unusual small hand or “ spark ” 
lamps. 

The first, with an ornamental base, is fitted with a single 
camphene burner, and, like many of the lamps which were 


120 COLONIAL LIGH DIiIRG 


made to burn this explosive fluid, has a tight-fitting brass cap 
attached by a tiny chain. Camphene lamps were usually ex- 
tinguished by caps because blowing, the usual method of putting 
out whale-oil lamps, was dangerous with camphene. Many 
of the glass camphene lamps have these extinguishers. 

The second is a beautiful example of the “ Wine Glass ”, 
rare in this small size. The central lamp —a night lamp, of 
later date than the others — has an opaque shade over the tiny 
flame which gives its small steady glimmer all night long. 

The fourth is probably the oldest lamp of the group, a 
“Wine Glass ” with a rounded oil font for a single whale-oil 
burner. The stem is very interesting as is also the decorative 
moulding of the glass at the base. 

The last lamp is an odd-shaped little “ spark ” lamp with a 
glass handle. 

Through the courtesy of its owner, Mrs. George W. Mitton, 
I have been permitted to photograph some lamps from a very 
extensive collection of the early Sandwich glass now in a 
beautiful old mansion in a pleasant part of Boston overlooking 
Jamaica Pond. This collection is particularly rich in the early 
colored glass which was turned out by this factory, many of 
the colors of striking beauty. 

Plate 83 shows a group of lamps in varied colors. The tall 
lamp in the center has an opaque glass font, which, being cut 
away, shows apple green beneath. Just at the left of it in the 
back row is a tall lamp with a clear glass font on a bronze 
and marble base, the supporting shaft an ultramarine blue. 
The lamp with the bronze and marble base at the right of the 
center has a font of rich ruby glass cut to display the clear 
glass beneath. The other lamps in this collection range from 
brown and vaseline yellow to amethyst, light blue, and the 
very rich deep blue so much sought for. Some of the designs 
of these lamps, apart from their color, are out of the ordinary, 
particularly the two at the extreme right. 


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EARLY GLASS LAMPS 121 


A charming group is shown in Plate 80. Although many 
of Mrs. Mitton’s lamps are in pairs, for lack of space only one 
is shown in the photographs. There are two pairs in this 
photograph. The second lamp from the end on either side is 
a combination lamp with a long-waisted, cut oil font combined 
with a moulded base. The next pair is an unusual one. The 
lines of the rich, deep blue glass combined with the clear 
panels carrying the familiar “’Thumb Print ” make an odd 
combination. All the other single lamps in this plate are un- 
usual in design, fine pieces rarely found to-day. The bases 
are particularly worth careful study. 

The last print (Plate 87) of this group from Mrs. Mit- 
ton’s collection contains an equal variety. Most of the lamps, 
if not all, are from pairs. The ground glass, balloon-shaped 
top of one in the right-hand half, on an ornate, clear glass base 
is pleasing. The small, clear glass one in the center with the 
wine-glass base is one of the rarest of them all. The shape of 
the second with its dome top is also interesting and very grace- 
ful. The old candlesticks are spoken of elsewhere. 

I know of no more interesting study than to compare dif- 
ferent groups of these Sandwich glass lamps, noting the com- 
binations of tops and bases and the grace with which the 
_ designs are worked out. It is so rare to see one in the least 
clumsy looking as to speak volumes for the ability of the 
designers. The quality of the glass and general workmanship 
of the early products of this factory make the collecting of 
Sandwich glass one of the most fascinating of hobbies. 


CHAPTER VII 


ASTRAL AND LUSTER LAMPS AND ORNAMENTAL 
CANDLE HOLDERS 


THE first half of the nineteenth century seems to have been 
marked by great activity on the part of inventors interested in 
lamps. It took a tremendously long time for any one to awake 
to the fact that the old type of open wick lamp was absurdly 
inadequate to light the progress which the world in general 
was making; but when in 1783 M. Argand, a Swiss chemist, 
introduced his great improvement in burners, it started the 
busy brains of many others to working along similar lines with 
the result that, in the two or three decades following, hun- 
dreds of patents were granted in America for various improve- 
ments in lighting devices. In fact, I have seen it stated that 
between the years 1800 and 1845 more than five hundred 
patents on whale-oil lamps were granted in America. 

The invention of M. Argand was, however, an epoch-making 
one. Although the single and double burner whale-oil lamps 
continued to be made and used for more than fifty years — in 
fact up to the time of the introduction and general use of 
kerosene — the new principle, simple as it was, introduced by 
Argand gradually came to be recognized as a long step for- 
ward. To-day practically every round wick kerosene lamp is 
constructed on his idea, which was simply this: the wick, in- 
stead of being a flat or solid closely woven or braided one, was 
made in the form of a hollow tube. This tube was fitted 
closely into a metal tube of the same shape, which extended 
downward through the bottom of the oil reservoir, allowing a 
current of air to come up through the center of the burning 


ASTRAL AND LUSTER LAMPS 128 


wick as well as upon the outside. Argand reasoned that by 
this means the abundant supply of oxygen being constantly 
renewed as the heat from the lamp created a draft, the carbon 
would be entirely consumed, giving a strong bright light with- 
out smoke. 

His first experiments were with a semi-circular tube for the 
wick but he soon abandoned it for a circular wick, found to 
be much more satisfactory. His next advance was some kind 
of a guide or chimney to direct the draft against the flame. 
His first chimneys were made of iron with a hood over the 
flame. The use of glass for this purpose is said to have been 
the result of an accident. A workman, heating a bottle over a 
flame, placed it too near, with the result that the bottom 
cracked and came off. As the bottle had become too hot to hold 
with comfort, he momentarily set it down over the flame and, 
to his great surprise, the flame became at once more steady 
and the light greatly increased. Glass then was at once 
adopted as the ideal material for lamp chimneys. Glass had 
the added advantage of utilizing all the rays of light which 
were formerly shut off by the iron chimney. 

This idea of Argand’s is the principle upon which all oil- 
burning lamps to-day are constructed. The flat single or 
double wicks have perforations under the bottom of the chim- 
ney to allow a current of air to be constantly sucked in against 
the flame. The round wick lamps are made as in Argand’s 
time with the opening through the bottom of the oil font as 
well as around the outside of the chimney. 

In the same year that M. Argand gave his invention to the 
world, a Frenchman — M. Legus of Paris — had introduced 
a flat woven wick like a ribbon to take the place of the old 
braided or solid woven round ones. This new wick permitted 
a much larger surface to come in contact with the flame so that 
the free carbon was more generally consumed, giving a brighter 
flame with much less smoke. At the same time he attached a 


124 COLONIAL LIGHT Wiae 


small spur-wheel which, pressing against the wick, permitted 
its easy adjustment. | 

M. Argand’s invention in principle was new and it took a 
long time for its general adoption, people as usual being loath 
to change old habits and ways. Besides, many who were 
equipped with the old style lard, whale-oil, or camphene 
lamps continued to use them down to, and even after, the gen- 
eral introduction of coal oil or kerosene. Gradually, as its 
merits were recognized, the Argand burner and the glass 
chimney came into general use. 

The artistic skill of the craftsmen of those days produced 
many lamps whose beauty of line and form are appreciated 
and admired to-day. 

It would be an exceedingly interesting thing to gather to- 
gether as many different kinds of lamps patented before 1850 
as possible. They were a wonderful lot, those patents. A few 
produced good results; many more, poor results; and the great 
mass of patents, no results at all. Although in collecting, you 
rarely find one of these patented lamps, still a glance at a few 
of the more striking and successful ones may be pertinent and 
certainly is a matter of no little interest to the student of lamp 
history. 

In 1784 a patent was granted to a Mr. Miles “ for his new 
method of making lamps of different forms, so as to emit an 
undiminished light however it may be agitated and which may 
be fixed in halls and shops.” 

In 1800 Messrs. White and Smithurst patented their “ im- 
proved lamp burner ”, an improvement on the common Argand 
lamp the object of which “is to afford a more free and plenti- 
ful supply of oil.” They further explain: “ This lamp enables 
burning common whale or seal oil, which is sold at about half 
the price of the best spermacite oil; the only inflammable fluid 
hitherto used in Argand lamps.” 

When “ The Domestic Encyclopaedia ” (spoken of in Chap- 


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Collection of Burton N. Gates, Worcester 


Pea eh 85 3 See page 112 


RARE HANDBILL SHOWING THE CAMBRIDGE WORKS OF THE 
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pene AND LUSTER.LAMPS 125 


ter V) was published, whale-oil lamps were the common 
illuminant. Argand burners were coming into use, but were 
still considered more or less of an innovation and a luxury. 
The following quotation will be read with great interest — by 
the light of our 100-watt Mazda electric bulbs: “ We have 
already pointed out the superior utility of lamps, but as the 
light emitted by them is frequently too vivid for weak or 
irritable eyes, we would recommend the use of a small screen, 
which should be proportionate to the disk of the flame and be 
placed at one side of the light, in order to shade it from the 
reader’s eye, without excluding its effect from others or dark- 
ening the room.” 

Another invention in the same year, 1800, by one Carcel 
provided a small pump run by clockwork which raised the oil 
from the base of the lamp to the wick holder, keeping the wick 
uniformly submerged in oil. This contrivance was, as it 
sounds, expensive and was only used in large lamps for halls 
and similar places. 

One of the few inventions which seem to have met with 
considerable success was that whereby a third tube of copper 
was introduced between the two brass wick tubes. This tube, 
empty and running down to the bottom of the oil font, was 
supposed to convey the hot air from the flame down (copper 
being a good conductor of heat) and was particularly useful on 
lard-oil lamps, which troubled owners greatly in winter by 
the congealing of the oil. 

It is an interesting fact that lard oil was the common illumi- 
nant used in the great lighthouses of the world for many years. 
It was not until as late as 1880 that a satisfactory burner using 
kerosene was constructed and adopted. 

Another invention early in the century was a perforated disk 
through which the wick tubes passed. Cemented on the under 
side of this disk was a cork, which could be fitted to the neck 
of a glass lamp just as a cork fits into the neck of a bottle. It 


126 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


was used in the very earliest glass lamps brought over to 
America (1800 to 1810). | 

One of the most successful and popular improvements was 
the invention of J. Neal. His lamp was provided with a tele- 
scopic sliding cylinder with the wick tubes screwed into a collar 
which formed the upper part of the tube. When the lamp 
was filled with oil, a float at the bottom of the tube extended 


the cylinder to its full length. The wicks were long and. 


reached to the bottom of the cylinder. As the oil was con- 
sumed, it had the effect of lowering the float and the cylinder, 
keeping the wicks uniformly submerged in the oil as long as 
any remained unburned. ‘This device seems to have been 
quite generally adopted and was used on lamps of tin, brass 
and pewter with good results. 

Perhaps one of the most ingenious (and, I should think, 
unworkable) patents was granted in 1839 to J. Price of Nash- 
ville, Tennessee, for a lamp which should burn pine knots. In 
this lamp a large tube having a diameter of about an inch and 
a half was used, in appearance not unlike a large candlestick. 
The pine knots were to be cut into small pieces (rather difficult 
work requiring considerable practice to do well). ‘These pieces 
of pine were then crowded into the cylinder, at the base of 
which was arranged a spring to keep them pressed up against 
the top. When the cylinder was full, a cap or top with a large 
opening was placed on it, the spring forcing the pine splinters 
up through the opening in the cap and the ashes falling into 
a circular pan secured on the upright pedestal. The description 
further says: “ A sheet iron chimney with a broad hood partly 
surrounding the flame was provided to convey the ascending 
smoke away from the face of the person using the lamp.” 
Certainly a most curious device! 

At about the same time another patent was granted for a 
device in which balls of cotton or flax saturated with oil or 
grease were burned. They were held in a claw-like arrange- 


eel Eh. >, i 


ween AND LUSTER LAMPS 127 


ment fastened to an upright coming from the flat base into 
which the ashes fell. 

In 1843 a Philadelphia concern patented what they called a 
“Solar Lamp ”, which was a great improvement over any 
table lamp so far brought out. It was constructed to burn 
lard oil and was built on the general principle of Argand’s. 
The round wick tube, over which the wick closely fitted, ex- 
tended through the bottom of the oil font and was provided 
with openings for the admission of air as in the regular Argand 
burner, but this burner was so constructed as to diffuse the flame 
more generally than in the other lamps. The special feature 
was a glass chimney, bulb shaped, which created a kind of hot 
air chamber in which the free carbon was consumed. This 
gave a profuse white, clear, steady light, which was far superior 
to anything then in use. This firm, Cornelius & Company, 
made these lamps on quite an extensive scale. They seem to 
have been used in the homes of the wealthier people. 

In 1840 Benkler introduced a lamp, the principle of which 
was a tube admitting air to the flame. It was placed at an 
angle so that when the lamp was lighted, the heat produced a 
current of air which acted as a forced draft and made the light 
steady and the flame bright because all the smoke was con- 
sumed. By this means, the cheaper, heavier oils could be 
burned without smoke or offensive odors. 

These are but a few of the hundreds of devices upon which 
the active brains of the day were working, but they give a 
fairly good idea of the progress which was being made. 

One of the earliest inventors of prominence was Benjamin 
Thompson, an American, born in Woburn, Massachusetts, a 
chemist and physicist of note. He is better known by the title 
of Count Rumford, which he received from the Elector of 
Bavaria, in whose service he was for some years. He con- 
ducted many experiments, and constructed over one hundred 
different lamps. He was also the author of an exhaustive 


128 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


treatise on “ ‘The Management of Light in Illumination ” pub- 


lished in 1789. He invented a machine to measure the relative 
intensity of light from different illuminants and a burner, 
which, however, was not a great success. It consisted of a flat 
wick tube with two flat tubes placed at acute angles on either 
side of it through which he designed that oxygen should be 
supplied. He soon abandoned this idea and confined his atten- 
tions to the regular Argand burner, which he improved by 
constructing his “ Astral Lamp.” In it the oil reservoir was a 
flat circular tube with radiating arms attached to the base of 
the lamp proper. His idea was the elimination as far as possi- 
ble of the annoying shadow cast by the heavy base of the 
regular Argand lamps. He invented several other improved 
lamps, particularly ones for large rooms and halls, and was a 
recognized authority on all matters pertaining to the science 
of lighting. He was created Count as a reward for his scientific 
discoveries and valuable services. | 

Count Rumford’s Astral lamps were used extensively in the 
better class homes together with elaborate candelabra and 
chandeliers, many of which are greatly prized to-day for 
workmanship and design of the highest artistic quality. 

I have been at some pains to gather together some illustra- 
tions showing the tremendous strides which lamp making had 
made in these few decades since the inventive faculties had 
been seriously set to work. 

Plate 94 shows a beautiful pair of Astral lamps in bronze. 
Although not so elaborate as some mantel lamps, this pair, 
with the old ground and cut glass shades, are well propor- 
tioned, dignified, and handsome. The main oil fonts are in the 
tops of the central pedestals from which the oil is conducted 
through the horizontal arms to the lamps proper. Near the 
bottom of these cylinders on the arms can be easily seen the 
openings which admit the air to the center of the wicks. The 


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web AND. LUSTER LAMPS 129 


very small and close wick bases eliminate almost all the shadow 
and allow the light to extend its full power over the room. 

The very ornate and elaborate lamps seen in Plate 100, 
though very similar, are not mates. A full mantel set usually 
consisted of a two-branched burner (like the one on the 
right) for the center of the mantel, with a single-arm lamp to 
match on either side. These lamps are as elaborate as any 
that I have seen. Cast in bronze, they show a wealth of elab- 
orate detail without, however, losing their sense of proportion. 
The double-branched one in particular can bear the closest 
inspection, for it shows great care in even the tiniest detail, 
especially the fluted arms, the elaboration of the lamp proper, 
and even the shade holders. The braces to hold the heavy 
arms are carefully thought out, the curved motif being re- 
peated on the bell-shaped canopy over the curved shaft. 

The crystals on this lamp, together with the odd shaped, 
beautifully proportioned shades, make a combination which for 
sheer elegance of design would be extremely difficult to 
approximate to-day in any of the modern shops. ‘The use 
of cut crystal lusters for lamps and candlesticks was very 
general during this period and gave an air of lightness and 
delicacy to what might otherwise have been a trifle too heavy 
and solid. The strings of cut button crystals on the single 
lamp at the left are not nearly so effective, nor is the lamp 
itself of quite as good a design. They, however, are both 
fine examples of this type of bronze Astral lamps, and any 
collector who is fortunate enough to find pieces as good and 
with a purse long enough to secure them is indeed to be 
congratulated. 

A somewhat similar bronze table lamp of the student type, 
probably of a later date, is seen in Plate 103. Another fine 
example of the combination in a pair of Astral mantel lamps 
of bronze and cut crystals is shown in Plate 93, well de- 


130 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


signed, finely proportioned lamps, which would add grace and 
dignity to any home to-day. 
Now and then one runs across one of these patented lamps 


usually tucked away in some dusty corner of a top shelf in an — q 


antique shop. They are generally far from ornamental and 
have no interest for the casual collector, but to any one specializ- 
ing in lamps they might be an interesting side-line. 

In Plate 30 the author shows what was called a “ Tumbler 
Lamp.” It is marked at the top of the curious tin, box-like 
structure on top of the glass (which is an ordinary pressed 
glass tumbler) “ Star Tumbler, Patented Jany. 13, 1874.” It 
was intended to be a physician’s or invalid’s lamp for heating a 
little water if needed at night. Just how the necessary air got 
down into the tumbler to enable the lamp to burn, I can not 
state. I had never seen one like it until I received some 
photographs from the collection of the Worcester Historical 
Society, which show that they possess its duplicate. | 

The lamp at the left of Plate 40 has a very broad wick, 
intended evidently for lard oil, coming out of the curious 
flattened font supported on an open-work, cast-iron base. The 
wick is unusually broad with three openings where it may be 
picked up. On one side of the wick at the top is a capped open- 
ing through which the lamp is filled and on the opposite side a 
small open tube, which, I imagine, is for the purpose of con- 
veying heated air down into the font to keep its contentsina 
liquid state in cold weather. This lamp marked “S. N. & 
H. G. Ufford, 117 Court St., Boston, Pat. Feb. 4) 1852.7 19000 
in the possession of the Worcester Historical Society. The 
writer has in his collection an exact duplicate, except that it has 
the original small round tin shade painted bronze like the 
lamp and held over it by two small wire uprights which rest in 
sockets at either end of the oil font. These sockets may be 
seen on the lamp in this plate. 

The pewter lamp at the extreme right of Plate 40 with the 


ASTRAL AND LUSTER LAMPS 131 


long double camphene burner is engraved across the front 
¢Saml. Clark, New York ” and is unusual in that it has a 
separate filling hole with a screw cap just below the top of 
the lamp. This lamp belongs to the Worcester Historical 
Society. 

In Plate 86 — also from the Worcester Historical Society’s 
collection, which seems to be particularly rich in these nine- 
teenth century devices — are several odd patented lamps. The 
first pair of hand-lamps on the left (the bases of which have 
a very familiar Sandwich pattern) have curious perforated 
metal tops which are hinged to the handle and drop down 
closely over the flame from the single whale-oil burner. 
These lamps are marked “TOM THUMB DIRIGO Pat. 
Feby. 1st and Dec. 3rd, 1861. Chas. W. Cahoon.” 

The clear glass “ Peg ” lamp lying on its side in the center 
of this plate is owned by Mr. Gates and is very unusual in that 
it has a patented device. It is intended for burning camphene, 
as is shown by the two long wick tubes with their attached 
brass caps on the cylinder beside it. Inside the lamp and run- 
ning nearly to the bottom of the extra large, globular oil font 
is a very fine meshed brass cylinder. Into it is fitted the 
slightly smaller brass cylinder, also finely meshed, which lies 
on the table beside it. Just what is accomplished by having 
the two cylinders it is hard to say, but they evidently acted 
in some manner to prevent the danger of explosions from 
the camphene. This lamp is marked “ Newells’ Patent 
1352.7 

Although camphene as a burning fluid was used for a time 
quite extensively (as the number of lamps fitted with the 
long round wick tubes would indicate), many serious burning 
accidents resulted from the careless handling of these lamps. 
It was an extremely explosive mixture and if a spark got down 
into the oil chamber a violent explosion was sure to result. 
This danger led to the study of various safety devices for 


132 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


minimizing this danger, one of which is evident on the peg 
lamp above. 

The first tall glass lamp on Plate 86 has a pewter burner 
using three flat wicks which are brought together at the point 
of flame. This lamp was designed to be used with a chimney 
and is marked “ Schulz & Trull’s Patent.” 

The other two tall lamps are very similar and were evi- 
dently turned out by the same factory at about the same time. 
The bases seem to be identical. Although the fonts are 
slightly different, all three have the intermediate blown glass — 
bulb between the top and the base which we noted in some 
lamps in the previous chapter. It is quite likely that these 
lamps were built by the same firm; for they have a similar 
pewter burner, using, however, a single round wick instead of 
the three flat ones. They are designed for glass chimneys. 
The patent burner has been removed from the lamp at the 
right and is lying beside it. This burner has a cap on it 
which, by turning, automatically raises or lowers the wick as 
desired. This is evidently a patented device, but, unfortu- 
nately, the burners are not marked. All of these patented 
lamps are from the Worcester Historical Society. 

While this great change in lamps was going on, much atten- 
tion was given also to the illuminating fluids used. I have 
already indicated that the first oil was obtained from the 
plentiful fish along the shores, that whale fishing from small 
boats started later, and that finally, after the whales had be- 
come scarce along the shore, large sailing vessels were fitted 
out for long voyages and the industry was worked on a big 
scale. 

The oil from the “ right ” whale was the common illumi- 
nant for nearly one hundred and fifty years. The origin of 
the name “right” whale seems to be in doubt, but many 
think it so called because it was the right kind to capture. 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


PLATE 89 See page 74 


NEST NEWBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, 


HALLWAY AT “INDIAN HILL’, 
SHOWING A FINE OLD HALL LANTERN 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 
PLA 06 See page 140 


PAIR OF CRYSTAL CANDELABRA FOR THE TABLE WITH WEDGWOOD BASES 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Pe al Pee OF See page 140 


ANOTHER ‘PAIR OF CRYSTAL TABLE CANDELABRA, THE CUT CRYSTALS ARE IN 
BOTH CLEAR AND COLORED GLASS 


PrauewAaL AND LUSTER LAMPS 133 


It not only yielded quantities of oil but also a valuable amount 
of whalebone, obtained from the head. 

The oil from the sperm whale which gradually took the 
place of right oil was lighter oil but usually cost more. When 
subjected to the refining process it was suitable for the elegant 
“Astral ” lamps of the first half of the nineteenth century and 
gave a clear, steady, bright flame with little or no odor or smoke. 

If one wants to know anything and everything about whal- 
ing, New Bedford or Nantucket is the place to go. Just ask for 
some of the old sea captains, who still may be found of a 
sunny day in some pleasant room in one of the old warehouses 
on South Water Street, New Bedford, spinning yarns of by- 
gone days. 

A century or two ago whaling was not only an almost ex- 
clusively New England industry, but one the extent and im- 
portance of which can hardly be realized to-day. New Bed- 
ford and Nantucket were the headquarters of rival whaling 
fleets. 

On the water front of New Bedford in the little shop of a 
maker of whaling guns and lances may be seen a collection of 
articles relating to this industry really worthy of the name of 
museum. Here is a long itemized list of goods furnished the 
New Bedford fleet of sixty-five vessels outfitting in the year 
1858. The value of the supplies amounts to nearly two mil- 
lions of dollars. It was no uncommon thing for nearly one 
hundred vessels to outfit together in the same season; so one 
can readily see that the business was of no mean proportions. 

Since the whaling voyage meant anywhere from two to five 
years away from home, an outfit meant, not only the large 
quantities of provisions necessary for the captain and crew for 
this period, but trading goods to barter with the natives for 
fresh meats and other supplies; extra sails, spars and other 
nautical equipment which might be required to replace that 


134 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


worn out or damaged by storms; huge pots and a large number 
of barrels to store the oil oy out from captured whales; a 
full medical chest for the captain who was also the doctor as 
well as the judge and jury when any disputes arose, and the 
parson when any one died. Many things may happen in a five- 
year voyage extending from the frozen ice fields of the Arctic 
waters to the burning sun, the deadly calms, and the wild 
tempests of the tropics. 

Many people think of whales as fish because hey: live in the 
sea and swim, but a whale of course is a warm-blooded animal, 
bringing font its young alive, and suckling it like a cow. Its 
flesh very closely resembles beef, both in appearance and taste 
and except for now and then a slightly fishy flavor, a good cut 
of whale meat properly broiled, to many people, could not be 
distinguished from a fine on steak. 

The whales are usually found in schools or “ pods ”, as they 
are called, but the whalers sometimes hunt weeks before 
sighting one. 

It is recorded that a lady, talking with an old New Bedford 
man, spoke rather slightingly of the whale and its uses. He 
turned to her with the remark, “ Madam, you should not speak 
that way. A woman is more beholden to the whale than to 
anything under heaven.” In answer to her look of amaze- 
ment he continued: “ Three very important things you are 
dependent upon to the whale — your corsets which give you 
your style; your cosmetics and your perfumery which give you 
your beauty and attractiveness.” It is not recorded that the 
lady was pleased, but it is true that, although many things 
have been tried, nothing has been found equal to real whale- 
bone for ladies’ stays. 

Ambergris, a mysterious oily, porous substance of a dirty 


greenish gray color, which is sometimes found cast up on — 


beaches and which comes from the sperm whale, some think 
as the result of some disease, is used as the basis of many 


—- 


Pe ee Oe ee ee net 


Qed AND LUSTER LAMPS 135 


perfumes. Though it has no odor in itself, it has the strange 
property of absorbing odors to a remarkable degree; hence, 
its value is more than its weight in gold. In the bony structure 
of the head of the sperm whale, moreover, is a cavity which 
yields a very fine grade of oil known as spermaceti; this oil is 
used as a basis for many cosmetics and ointments as well as for 
fine candles. It was currently believed that a spermaceti candle 
would give about double the light of one made from tallow. 

The most famous catches of ambergris were made by the 
schooner Watchman, which, in 1858, brought in eight hun- 
dred pounds and the bark Splendid, which, in 1883, came into 
port with nine hundred and eighty-three pounds. You may 
imagine the feelings of the captain and crew when the market 
price was found to be over five hundred dollars a pound. 

Some of the logs of the whalers’ captains are interesting 
even to landlubbers. I recall seeing one by a captain 
who was something of an artist and had adorned almost every 
page with a sketch of some kind. A whale blowing or other- 
wise deporting itself usually embellishing the pages when 
whales were plentiful. Any unusual incident to break the 
monotony such as speaking another vessel or a call at a port for 
water or fresh supplies, was usually shown. Many of the 
sketches, though small, were very cleverly done. Sometimes 
a wounded whale would smash a boat with his powerful flukes, 
throwing the men into the water, and this would be shown in 
quite a graphic manner. 

When the schools or pods of whales were encountered, the 
men often worked night and day; for after a whale had been 
“ struck ”—as the term is when one is harpooned and finally 
killed — it was towed up alongside the ship and the work of 
cutting up the blubber or thick coating of fat just underneath 
the skin began. This fat, which kept the blood of the whale 
warm in the frigid waters of the polar seas, was cut off in huge 
strips by instruments closely resembling sharp spades and, when 


136 COLONIAL LIGH Rime 


“tried out ” over the fires in the huge kettles, yielded the 
sought-for oil. But there were often weeks at a time when the 
lookout aloft swept the seas with his glass in vain for any sign 
of whales and when time hung heavily on the hands of the 
crew. 

At such times it was often the custom of the men to busy 
themselves in carving the bones of the whale into strange and 
unique gifts for the folks back home. One of the favorite 
devices was the jagging wheel, a fancifully edged wheel on the 
end of a short handle, somewhat resembling a flattened spur, 
all carved in more or less intricate designs and sometimes inlaid 
with mother-of-pearl, according to the skill of the maker. 
These wheels were used in cutting out.and embellishing with 
fanciful designs the pies and other pastry which were so im- 
portant a part of every thrifty New England housewife’s 
cuisine. 

There were many other articles for domestic use such as 
bobbins, spools, knitting needles, card cases, work boxes, snuff 
boxes, and many other things, which the inventive ingenuity 
of the sailor might suggest, made from the whale ivory. 

I have seen the most delicate and beautiful models of ships, 
the entire hull and spars, deck houses, boats, etc., all cut out 
of whale ivory, the models being perfect in their proportions.» 
and all the complicated ropes and tackle of the rigging exactly 
reproduced in perfect detail. Several museums — notably that 
at New Bedford — have extensive collections of these ivory 
jagging wheels and scrimshaw work, as it was called. A 
whale’s tooth elaborately carved or scratched, the lines filled in 
with lampblack — often depicting thrilling scenes in the cap- 
ture of whales — held the place of honor on the mantelpiece 
or the top shelf of the “ what-not ” in the parlor of many a 
seaside New England home. 

But the main business of whaling was an arduous one, re- 
quiring men of cool heads, stout hearts, iron constitutions, 


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Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


PLATE 93 


PAIR 


MANTEL 


See page 129 
ASTRAL LAMPS IN BRONZE WITH CUT CRYSTALS 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


feck! Oe IRE! RG hea 


PAIR SINGLE-BURNER MANTEL ASTRAL LAMPS See page 128 


ASTRAL AND LUSTER LAMPS | 137 


strong muscles, and steady nerves. The lives of a boatload 
often depended on the skill and steadiness of the harpooner as 
he stood in the bow waiting for the exact moment and place to 
strike. 

The vicinity of a whaling vessel while in active operation, 
with clouds of dense black smoke from the kettles of boiling 
fat and the penetrating odors of blubber and decaying carcasses 
of dead whales, was anything but agreeable. Think of years 
of it, often without letters from home and only the occasional 
speaking of some other vessel at sea or the occasional call at 
some port where belated news may be had! It was work only 
for men of the strongest mental fiber, and such indeed were 
the men who manned the whaling fleets — splendid specimens 
of New England’s best manhood. Hardly less credit should 
be given the faithful wives, mothers, and sisters waiting with 
fortitude and courage through long months of silence for news 
of their loved ones. 

Many interesting books written on the romance and realities 
of whaling may be found in almost every library. They are 
well worth reading and tell far better than I the details of this 
arduous but fascinating New England industry. Such are the 
works of Herman Melville, which have suddenly revived their 
popularity of years ago. 

But to return from whales to the lamps they lit. Many of 
the tall table lamps usually classified under the name of 
“ Astral ” lamps (though in reality the name properly applies 
only to the lamps in which a slender arm holding the lamp 
proper goes off at right angles from the main central oil font) 
are to be found in the dealers’ stores, and may be purchased if 
one cares to pay the price; for the really good ones command 
high figures. Care should be taken in buying because many of 
these lamps with brass or bronze bases, usually attached to a 
square of marble and sometimes with a row of cut crystal 
lusters around the shade holder, are not of good proportions 


138 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


and have an awkward appearance. Do not buy a lamp of this 
kind just because it is old, but wait until you can find one the 
design and proportions of which will be a pleasure to the eye. 
I do not quite! understand how so many inartistic ones were 
made since it seems almost as easy to make a lamp of sym- 
metrical proportions as one which offends the laws of grace, 
but it is a fact that many of the so-called “ Astral ” lamps 
which one finds to-day in the various dealers’ shops are un- 
graceful and some are positively ugly. 

I give several examples here of what I consider desirable 
lamps of this type. The designs are good, proportions grace- 
ful, and the shades in harmony of design, and in the right rela- 
tions to the lamp proper. In Plate 102 the tall central lamp 1s 
a beautifully designed piece. Its long, perfectly proportioned 
bronze column resting on a square marble base supports a shade 
in perfect harmony, and forms a whole which will always be a 
delight to the eye. 

Since many of these lamps are now being bought and fitted 
for electricity, perhaps this word of caution is not out of place, 
for a lamp is something which one has constantly before him 
and a jarring note in design or a false proportion is a matter 
of constant irritation, to me at least, and I imagine to many 
others. 

In this same Plate 102, beside the tall lamp are two very 
quaint glass hand lamps in one of the most original designs that 
I have seen. Shaped something like decanters, the lamp proper 
is the round glass corresponding to the stopper. The shape is 
graceful and the handles particularly so, but I think they must 
have been designed more for ornament than use. They are 
hardly practical. 

The two table lamps given in Plate 108 are from the 
author’s collection and he considers them excellent examples. 
The one at the left has a French gilt standard on a double 
marble base and the original old shade is of good shape in 


ASTRAL AND LUSTER LAMPS 139 


proportion to the lamp. The row of lusters, though at first 
sight rather too short, are of a very elaborate design which is in 
perfect harmony with the design of the central standard so that 
the effect of the whole lamp is particularly rich and pleasing. 
The lamp at the right has a severely plain central column 
rising from a heavy square marble base and lusters long and 
severely plain to match. The shade, which is the original one, 
is well proportioned and the general effect of the lamp 
harmonious. A third lamp in the writer’s collection in Plate 
105 is still more striking. This is the lamp which the writer 
found in the loft of an old barn, as described in the next 
chapter. The very unusual shape of the finely cut shade gives 
it a most distinguished appearance. I give these three as good 
examples of what to look for in getting lamps of this sort. 

The use of cut glass pendants, prisms and drops was prob- 
ably first introduced by the glass makers of England and Ire- 
land and was copied here by our own workmen, but many 
of the wealthier people preferred the imported articles. 
Some wonderfully fine and artistic chandeliers and candelabra 
adorned the homes of the merchant princes during the first 
half of the nineteenth century. Plate 99 gives a photograph 
of a candelabra set consisting of a three-branched candlestick 
for the center of the mantel and a single candle one to match 
on either side. This pattern was called the “ Paul and Vir- 
ginia ” and was one very much in vogue on account of the 
great popularity of the novel by that name. The graceful 
body is cast in French gilt and secured to a square marble base. 
The broad, elaborately designed collars at the base of the 
candle holders are encircled by bands of cut and molded lus- 
ters. There were numerous designs for the bases of these 
candelabra, — knights, ladies, castles and cathedrals, shep- 
herds and warriors, baskets of flowers, etc. They may be 
found to-day, though for a complete set of three in good con- 
dition a fairly high price will probably be asked. Since this 


140 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


French gilt finish did not tarnish readily and they were con- 
sidered very ornamental, they seem to have suffered less 
through careless handling than most antiques and are to-day 
usually part of the stock in trade of most antique stores. 

A very fine three-branched one is given in Plate 101. This 
has the figure of a knight in armor and the long glass lusters 
are cut in a special design. This candelabrum is shown stand- 
ing on a handsome carved and gilded eagle bracket, a very 
spirited piece of work dating probably from about 1800. The 
candlestick is of a later date. 

The three candelabra in Plates 90, 91 and 98 were undoubt- 
edly imported and are probably of Irish or English glass. 
They are wonderful examples of the graceful designs of those 
early artists as well as the great technical skill required to pro- 
duce the designs in glass. 

Number 91 is almost entirely in glass. The design for the 
base of four glass pillars rising from the bronze base is quite 
unique and is well carried out. Note the grace of the curved 
glass arms and the cutting of the fancy candle holders as well 
as the tops of the main shaft. The glass pendants are also 
unusual, round cut crystals of colored glass, each with its 
pendent pear-shaped drop of clear cut glass hung about each 
candle holder and also the glass ornament at the top. The 
effect of the whole is singularly rich and graceful. 

Number 90 is also mainly of glass but of a very different 
design. The base is bronze or brass enclosing a pottery cylinder 
of a typical Wedgwood design. The curved glass arms rise 
from a cut glass bowl and terminate in ornamental glass candle 
holders. The tall central shaft is connected with the candle 
brackets by festoons of cut crystals. 

The third set shown in Plate 98 has a base of aieble with 
Wedgwood and bronze medallions and the main shaft and 
candle arms are also of bronze. The lusters which hang from 
the bases of the candle holders and the top of the central shaft 


aaNnoI OVALLVM MOILSATANVO 
HIIM WhaddvIdadNvo IVLSAHO LNO UNV LTIO ONIONVH TIVM TIVLSAYO LAO AGNV LTIO HONAC 


ermcrsi y! Saxe | Caray eh 


4oyjn yy ay) fo uo1jrayjoy 
AoyINY ay] fo u01}99]}0D ; 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


PIAA oe See page 141 


WALL BRACKET FOR TWO CANDLES IN BRONZE 
AND FESTOONS OF CUT CRYSTALS 


ASTRAL AND LUSTER LAMPS I4I 


consist of three round cut “ buttons ” with a long pointed cut 
drop beneath. 

These three, though totally different, are, each in its own 
way, superb examples of well-balanced and symmetrical de- 
sign carried out by workmen of great technical skill. I very 
much doubt if they could be surpassed, or even equalled, in 
our highest grade shops to-day. 

But the work upon the hanging glass chandeliers was even 
of a more elaborate character. Many of them are marvels of 
grace and beauty and of the most perfect and exquisite work- 
manship. 

I commend for your study the hanging chandelier for six 
candles in Plate 104 and the wall bracket for two candles in 
Plate 97. 

Note first the perfect balance and grace of the design and 
the exquisite cuttings of the balls, pendants, rosettes, and other 
shapes in crystal which are so effectively worked into the design. 

In the breakfast room of Mrs. Mitton’s fine old mansion 
overlooking Jamaica Pond in Boston hangs the chandelier for 
six candles illustrated in Plate 107. It was made by Wedg- 
wood, the “ Prince of Potters” as he was called, and rightly. 
No one man did more for this fine art than did he. We are 
told “ he modelled many objects himself, his taste and artistic 
sense being so strong that even the silversmiths followed his 
models as well as the members of his own craft.” This chan- 
delier is an exquisite piece of modelling. The body is that 
dull, greenish grey which one often finds on Wedgwood vases. 
The candle holders, ornamented upper edges and bottom, are 
finished in bright silver luster, a combination as striking as it 
is beautiful. Its owner has had electricity substituted for the 
original candles. 

Mrs. Mitton is particularly interested in Sandwich glass of 
which her collection is most extensive. I had photographed 
only a few of the many choice lamps and candlesticks, all in 


142 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


perfect condition and many of them of extremely rare pat- 
terns. Of the famous and graceful “ Dolphin ” design of 
the Sandwich works, Mrs. Mitton has many pieces both in 
clear and opaque glass and in numerous colors. 

Plate 72 shows a group, most of which are “ Dolphin ” 
candlesticks, some on single and some double bases. The stick 
at the extreme right is a very rare pattern. The candle holder 
of opal glass gradually blends into the bell-shaped clear glass 
base. The stick at the left, of severely classic shape, is all of 
opaque glass. In the center is a Sheffield candlestick holding 
a glass peg lamp for two wicks in an interesting design. Just 
in front the familiar dolphin in colored glass on the round 
base holds a small shell-shaped disk of opal glass. In the 
group of lamps from this same collection in Plate 87 are 
shown two very early blown glass candlesticks on moulded 
bases. The tops are identical and have the interesting small 
hollow bulb in the center, but the moulded bases are of en- 
tirely different patterns. These plain sticks are seldom found; 
so this pair in perfect condition is greatly prized by its owner. 

They have a very pretty custom on Beacon Hill in Boston 
of lighting the houses on Christmas Eve with candles at all 
the windows and other lights in the rooms. 

One can wander there on that evening, listening to the bands 
of carollers singing their old “ Noél” hymns, and catch 
glimpses of beautiful old rooms filled with stately furniture 
of years gone by. Here and there one catches a glimpse of 
these rich old glass chandeliers, for there are still some left in 
those fine old mansions, radiant with the soft glow from many 
candles, the most beautiful artificial light in the world. 

I have secured, through the courtesy of Miss Northend, in- 
terior views showing three types of these glass chandeliers. 

The simplest one, with its tiers of gracefully curved glass 
arms, is in Plate 92. This one, with its central rod of brass 
upon which are strung hollow glass balls alternating with series 


ASTRAL AND LUSTER LAMPS 143 


of glass arms terminating in the candle holders, is undoubtedly 
of English or Irish glass as are probably the other two. This 
one hangs in the dining room at “ Indian Hill”, the fine old 
residence of the late Ben Perley Poore, at West Newbury. The 
house, which dates from 1680, has been modernized to 
some extent, but it still keeps its old-time flavor, helped by the 
old furnishings throughout, the prized possessions of its late 
owner, who was a noted and enthusiastic collector. 

The remaining two are in modern residences, but so per- 
fectly has the architect and owner environed these pieces as 
to produce a most harmonious effect. Plate 110 shows the resi- 
dence of Edward D. Brandegee, Esq., of Brookline, Massachu- 
setts —“ Faulkner Farm.” ‘This old chandelier, hanging from 
the center of the ceiling, was originally built for many candles 
and is a striking example of airy grace in crystal. 

Plate 114, the drawing room of “ Wechfeld House ” at 
Prides Crossing, Massachusetts, shows a perfect setting for 
this wonderfully graceful bronze and crystal chandelier. The 
architects and decorators have evidently used the central chan- 
delier as a keynote upon which the rest of the room is based. 
Note also the hanging side-lights as well as the perfect har- 
mony in furniture, rug, wall, and decorations. 

The church which I attended as a boy in Salem was de- 
signed by the famous Salem architect, McIntyre, whose work 
ranks with that of Bulfinch and Wren. The spire was partic- 
ularly graceful and was often photographed and studied by 
architects. The church was built about 1800. 

One day while making some repairs in the loft, workmen 
found, half hidden by rubbish, some large cases. Upon open- 
ing them they discovered a wonderful hanging glass chandelier. 
Some of the older people then remembered that years before 
a sea captain had brought home from England and presented 
to the church this elaborate chandelier, which had been hung 
in the center of the church. For some reason unknown, it had 


144 COLONIAL LIGH Dime 


later been taken down, packed carefully away, and in time en- 
tirely forgotten. Years and years after (1 was quite a lad 
when I first saw it, and my father did not remember it at all) 
it was cleaned, polished, put together, and again hung in the 
center of the church. It was a most elaborate affair as I re- 
member it, hanging, I should judge, at least ten feet in length. 
There were three rows of curved glass arms — the smallest at 
the top — alternating with large cut glass globes. The bot- 
tom row must have had a spread of six or eight feet and the 
whole terminated in several fancy glass bowls or globes, dimin- 
ishing in size. It must have held sixty to one hundred candles 
and was a wonderful sight to my youthful eyes. Alas! it is 
no more. On a cold night in winter just as the church was 
preparing to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of its erec- 
tion, it burned to the ground and a few half melted scraps of 
glass were all that was left of my beautiful glass chandelier. 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Norithend, Salem 
(Us Ed BP o's: PAIR BRONZE AND MARBLE MANTEL See page 140 
OR TABLE CANDELABRA WITH CUT CRYSTAL DROPS 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Bie A i Haase) 


See page 139 
BEAUTIFUL SET OF ‘‘PAUL AND VIRGINIA” CANDELABRA 


WITH ELABORATE 
CRYSTAL LUSTERS 


SdNWVI ACIS JO UIlVd V JO ANO AX GANNVIA dNVI TVULSV AZNOUA AWANUNA-OML TVALNAD 


62r asvd 9a } OOL SELF Td 


mans ‘puayz4oN *H KAvyy sstpy &Q yg vasojoy gq 


CHAPTER VIII 
RANDOM NOTES ON COLLECTING 


I suppose there is hardly a collector of antiques of almost 
any kind who has not, at one time or another, had the question 
asked him by some well meaning friend “ What’s the good of 
all that junk anyway? ” Perhaps not in just those words, but 
to that general effect. Well, what is the use of collecting? 
Let me tell you why I think it a good thing for a man to take 
up the fad of collecting — not necessarily lamps nor even an- 
tiques — but something which will take his mind from the 
daily grind and care and offer him rest and relaxation. 

Nowadays almost every physician advocates for the profes- 
sional man or any one whose work is of a sedentary nature 
some form or other of physical exercise: golf, tennis, riding, 
walking, rowing, swimming, or something else which shall sup- 
ply the needed physical equilibrium. Why, then, is it not as 
logical to apply the same theory to the mind and to relieve 
the pressure of arduous mental work day after day by mental 
work of an entirely different kind, thus establishing a healthy 
~ mental equilibrium? 

A fad like collecting will do this, and, if rightly pursued, 
will bring as much healthy pleasure as a good game of tennis 
or round of golf. 

The best of it is, you can find something exactly to suit your 
purse as well as your taste. If your means are limited, try 
something simple like stamp collecting, which affords a great 
many people pleasure with very little strain on the pocket- 
book unless they go into it extensively. ‘ Too childish,” you 
say, “ just a school-boy’s game.” But is it? I know a hard- 


146 COLONIAL-LIGHTING 


headed business man, who not many years ago ran for Lieu- 
tenant Governor of Massachusetts, a shrewd, busy, successful, 
and by no means sentimental person, who has been for years 
an enthusiastic collector of stamps. He specializes in those 
of the Confederate States and his collection must run into 
many dollars. Another, a successful clothing merchant, has 
such a large collection that he had a special safe made in which 
to keep his stamp books. He exhibited his collection of French 
stamps in Paris to the amazement of the Continental philate- 
lists, who marvelled at such a complete and wonderful show- 
ing. Oh, collecting stamps is not child’s play! 

Some men choose odd things to collect. I have heard of 
one man who collects old clothes pins — the ones whittled out 
of hard wood before the days of the five and ten cent stores. 
I remember when I was a small boy seeing my grandmother 
using pins which my grandfather had made for her, and very 
nice pins they were, nearly square on top as I recall them. 

A direct descendant of Commodore Thomas MacDonough 
specializes in “ MacDonough’s Victory” ware. During the 
war with England in 1814, his distinguished ancestor defeated 
a stronger squadron of English vessels in that battle on Lake 
Champlain which Theodore Roosevelt in his “ Naval History 
of the War of 1812 ” ranks above every other exploit. After 
the war was ended, far from feeling any lasting resentment 
toward America, English potters who were then making quan- 
tities of their wares for the American market and decorating 
them with American views, made a design of ships in battle 
and called it “ MacDonough’s Victory.” It was carried out in 
a very rich, dark blue and is one of the historical designs much 
sought by collectors of such ware. This gentleman has con- 
fined himself to the one design and by persistent search has 
now a collection of more than fifty pieces. When you realize 
how scarce this design is to-day, you will understand that his 
collection means a considerable outlay of time as well as money 


Pa oM NOTES ON, COLLECTING +147 


to get such a result. Undoubtedly he has enjoyed it and prob- 
ably would tell you that the fun was worth all it cost in ef- 
fort. 

There are hundreds of things to collect — mirrors, chairs, 
Sheffield plate, tables, hooked-in rugs, early American pot- 
tery, engravings, worked samplers, old clocks, pewter — just 
to think of a few out of many which one might collect with 
satisfaction. 

Just now there is a large demand for early American glass, 
particularly the products of the Sandwich glass works. Genu- 
ine pieces of the early pressed or moulded glass, which, when 
they were first made and sold, could have been bought for a 
few cents, now often command as many dollars. 

Many people are collecting the smaller pieces — salt cellars, 
small dishes for the table, and particularly cup plates, which 
were made in many designs and have been a very salable ar- 
ticle. These designs were often made to celebrate some polit- 
ical or historical event of interest. Such special plates are 
eagerly sought and often command very high prices. A short 
time ago in a New York auction room, a Sandwich pressed 
glass cup plate which originally might have cost ten or fifteen 
cents brought twenty-six dollars. I think if one were starting 
collecting it would be well to select something which was not 
quite so much in the public eye. 

Why not try lamps? They are readily found, the more com- 
mon ones do not command fancy prices, and one can make a 
general collection or specialize in one of a dozen kinds as he 
chooses. There is a wide diversity, as this book indicates and, 
best of all, a chance for a lot of study and research; for that 
is really the zest of collecting. As one picks up, bit by bit, 
knowledge of the particular subject he is interested in, he finds 
that there is yet a great deal more to learn. When he thinks 
that he has a fairly good working knowledge of his subject, 
he runs across some one else who knows so very much more 


148 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


that he decides he doesn’t know so much after all and that he 
had better get very busy and learn more. At least, that is my 
experience. When I started this book I felt that I had a de- 
cently respectable knowledge of the subject. I have learned 
a great deal more while writing it and realize now that I have 
yet a long way to go before reaching the ultimate goal of my 
ambition as to knowledge of lighting devices. 

This is an honest confession, but doesn’t almost every col- 
lector who is honest with himself feel the same way and really 
isn’t that the greatest source of satisfaction in the game? It 
is not so much getting the actual specimens themselves as ac- 
quiring that feeling of confidence in one’s own judgment. The 
feeling that you know what you want and why you want it 
comes only with study and experience. 

What is the first step, then, after you have decided upon 
your particular field? I should advise visiting antique shops, 
as many as you can conveniently, and telling the proprietor 
quite frankly that you are a beginner, know little or nothing 
of the subject but want to learn. Ask to see his specimens and 
request any information he can give you. With rare excep- 
tions, I think, the proprietor, be he man or woman, will be 
very glad to advise you and will give you the special points 
of such pieces as he has in stock and general idea of current 
values. 

Attendance at auction sales is excellent, even if you are not 
buying; for it often gives you a very good line on present 
values, which in the general run are apt to be quite accurate. 
A great deal of other information may be gained there too. 
But if you are buying, you should make it a strict rule never 
to bid on an article without having carefully and leisurely 
examined it before the sale. 

It seems to be the fashion lately among many writers of 
books on antiques to cast reflections upon antique dealers in 
general as persons devoid of any desire to tell the truth about 


Photograph by Miss Mary H. Northend, Salem 


Cad i BOL See page 140 


GILT AND CRYSTAL CANDELABRUM 
STANDING ON A CARVED AND 
GILDED BRACKET—SPREAD 
EAGLE DESIGN DATING 
ABOUT 1800 


cont es wisn NaaaLs “Nuaaow uno 10 TC ee oe ee aoe SST UNV SSPTOT ee Bis 
sae a -YOLSTONY FHL Sd WVT TVULSV AZNOUA TIVL VANUNG-OML SNOITUND UlVd ANV dWVT FAIAVL AZNOUA TNAAOVAO TIVL Yael 


6zI asvd aas COLA ee) op 9&1 asvd aay Zor i We 26 


MmajDG ‘puayw4oN “FT KAD ssipy &Q ydvasojoyg 


umalDS ‘puayw40N “FT KAD sstpy &Q ygoasojoyg 


RANDOM NOTES ON COLLECTING 149 


their wares and to depict them like the proverbial spider, sit- 
ting in their nets waiting for the unwary and innocent fly in 
the guise of a collector that they may devour him. I do not 
agree with these writers. I have always maintained that if you 
approach an antique dealer truthfully and honestly, in a per- 
fectly friendly and fair-minded way, you will be met in the 
same fashion, at least nine times out of ten — perhaps ninety- 
nine times out of one hundred. In reading an article very 
recently in an antique magazine, I was glad to note that the 
writer took the same view, maintaining that the standard of 
honesty and fair dealing was as high among antique dealers 
as among any other class of merchants. I have been a general 
collector of antiques now for a number of years. So far as I 
know, I have never yet been deliberately sold an imitation or 
reproduction for the genuine thing. Why should any dealer 
attempt it (providing, of course, he is not in business inten- 
tionally to sell spurious for genuine)? Aside from the purely 
ethical considerations it is not good business. 

If I should purchase an article as genuine which afterward 
upon further examination I found not to be as represented to 
me at the time of purchase, that antique dealer would thereby 
lose a customer. For, confidence in a dealer’s honesty once 
destroyed, hardly any collector would risk further dealings 
with his shop. Since a customer who buys once almost invari- 
ably comes again and again, dishonesty simply means one cus- 
tomer lost. Dishonesty, purely from a dollar and cents view, 
would not pay. The extra profit from the sale of the “ faked ” 
piece usually would be offset many times over by the legitimate 
profits from the future business of that same customer. The 
confidence of his customers is the most valuable single asset 
which an antique dealer carries and most of them realize this. 
Of course I don’t mean to say that there are no spurious ar- 
ticles being offered for genuine — in antiques as in hundreds 
of other lines of merchandise — but the merchant who does 


150 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


business in this fashion soon becomes known and, I believe, in 


the long run loses out. 

There is this much to be said: perhaps no other line of busi- 
ness lends itself more. easily and readily to fraud than does 
that of antiques in general. And it is not only the customer 
who gets taken in. 

If you have gained the confidence of some dealer whom you 
have come to know quite well, ask him some time when he 
is a bit confidential, if he has ever been imposed upon in 
buying antiques, and if he feels like telling you (most of 
them do hate to admit that they are ever imposed upon) he 
will admit that he himself has been deceived more than once. 
I think I am safe in saying that there are more people in the 
fraudulent antique game trying to impose on the dealers, peo- 
ple whose business it is to manufacture and place imitations and 
reproductions, than there are dealers who are deliberately seek- 
ing to deceive customers. 

I heard recently a story which illustrates this point. I will 
not vouch for the truth of it. A fine old type of sofa had been 
handed down in a family as an heirloom. In the course of — 
years it had become badly dilapidated and was finally relegated 
to the attic or barn. Here the further jostlings of time gradu- 
ally reduced it to a bare and meagre skeleton of framework on 
which were three finely carved legs (the fourth had disap- 
peared). 

One day a man appeared looking for antique furniture, rum- _ 
maged about the barn, and chanced upon the dilapidated frame 
with its three carved legs. An offer was made, accepted after 
some dickering and the man drove away with the legs tied in 
a neat bundle. Knowing the type of sofa which went with 
that style of leg, he constructed three sofas of that original 
type, using old woods and reproducing the original lines as 
nearly as possible. Each sofa had one genuine old leg — the 
rest was all faked. When any one called to buy, and asked any 


RANDOM NOTES ON COLLECTING 151 


questions, he would say, carelessly placing his hand on the 
original leg: “ Oh, yes, this is absolutely genuine! ” 

Of course, he didn’t tell people that the whole sofa was 
old. If any one took what he said to mean that, it was no 
fault of his if they misunderstood. That was their lookout. 
Sharp practice? Yes. But it occurs in lots of other businesses 
as well. 

Another thing which sets the dealing in antiques apart from 
most other lines of business is that there is no standard of prices 
or in fact anything which may establish any set rules for deter- 
mining prices or values. The price of a thing is usually about 
what the dealer thinks the public will pay for it. When he 
buys a piece, the dealer figures what he can successfully charge 
for it, deducts what he considers a safe margin of profit for 
himself, and the balance is what he can afford to give for it. 
Often he has to pay more than he really figures he can afford, 
the extra amount usually coming out of his profit. Sometimes 
he buys for less. When he gets the piece to his shop, he may 
find that it is not as salable as he supposed or may require more 
work to put it in salable condition. It may remain on his hands 
for weeks, perhaps months, or longer, so that much of his cap- 
ital — usually never enough for his business — is tied up where 
he cannot get it, though he sorely needs it. Perhaps finally 
he may have to sell at cost price or less to dispose of the goods 
and release the money which he has invested in it. 

Some dealers — of course with the general selling value in 
view — mark their pieces to be sold at a certain per cent ad- 
vance over the cost to them. This practice may result in quite 
marked differences between prices of objects which are of the 
same value to the collector’s eye in different shops in the same 
town. In such a case, the dealer who had bought at the lower 
price would probably make the sale, while the other man would 
either hold his piece, hoping to get his price, or would reduce 
it to meet the rival dealers’ values. Allowing for all these 


152 COLONIAL LIGHTiInge 


chances which the dealer has to take, I think it will be found 
in many cases that his margin of profit, which in individual 
cases may seem large, is not excessive. Fashions also make 
quite a difference. The buying public’s demands and tastes 
change and shift in collecting as in clothes and many other 
things. As I said before, one year the demand may be for 
blue china, the next braided and hooked rugs, the next Windsor 
chairs, Sandwich glass, mirrors, any one of a hundred things. 
How does the dealer know? Last year, as I recall, there was a 
great call for hooked-in rugs and it may be as strong now, 
though I think the demand is diminishing. Suppose that some 
dealer has had his agents scouring the country districts for 
these old rugs and they have brought him a large supply, which 
they have secured (because they were in demand by many 
buyers) at heavily rising prices. The dealer now advertises his 
large and heavy stock of these rugs only to find that the public 
taste has changed and that they are not buying rugs but de- 
manding Sandwich glass, of which he may have only a meager 


supply because very few seemed to be interested in collecting 


glass up to a short time ago. He stands to lose heavily on his 
stock of rugs and is unable to supply the demand for glass, 
on which he could perhaps make a large enough profit to cover 
his loss in rugs if he had the stock. 

I mentioned previously reading that at an auction in New 
York a Sandwich glass cup-plate recently sold for twenty-six 
dollars. Two or three years ago if a dealer had been offered 
a dollar for this plate he would have considered that he had 
made a good sale and rightly, for in all probability the cost of 
the plate would have been a fraction of a dollar. Then, you 
say, if a dollar was right then, twenty-six dollars to-day must 
be robbery! Not necessarily. The law of supply and demand 
applies here as in everything else. If no one is collecting 
Sandwich glass cup-plates, the price of one dollar for this one, 
though it be a very rare pattern, may be so high as to prevent 


ge ee 


ee etl el? Lar 


a ai ai a 4 
= See ad Jas Pos 


Photograph by Miss Mary Hi. Northend, Salem 


Peed l E-10d See page 141 


GRACEFUL ‘CRYSTAL CHANDELIER WITH CUT DROPS 


A 
5 


= 


Se ee en ee 


Collection of the Author 


NBD BAGS DE Id 8) 


TALL ASTRAL 
BASE AND 


See pages 139, 157. 


LAMP WITH BRONZE 
UNUSUAL GLASS 
SHADE 


Collection of Mrs. Ashbel P. Fitch, . 
Quogue, Long Island 


P.DATL E06 


TIN WHALE-OIL LANTERN 
WITH ORIGINAL GLASS OF 
STRIKING DESIGN 


Paw pOMmM NOTES ON COLLECTING 153 


sales. On the other hand, when the demand from eager buyers 
far outruns the supply, twenty-six dollars may be cheap. Fifty 
collectors, if they had known of this sale, might have gladly 
paid much more to obtain it. 

One of the really lovely phases of collecting is the meeting 
with some old person who has lived the life of which these 
lamps and candlesticks are but the symbol. Upon the common 
ground of reverence and affection for that gone but not for- 
gotten life, such a person will open the gates of memory and 
allow remembrances of childhood happenings and deeds of 
later years to sweep over them and you. Better than modern 
book or magazine are some of the stirring events of their young 
days, coming in simple, homely fashion from faded lips. 

A dear old lady whom I go to see quite often has a rich fund 
of such tales from her own girlhood days. Although now in 
her ninetieth year, under a crown of most lovely wavy white 
hair her bright eyes will light up with merriment and her 
chuckling laughter will mingle with yours at some episode of 
her girlhood. One day we had just been looking at an old iron 
candlestick, one of those early ones with a lip on the top of it 
by which it could be hung from the slat of a ladder-back chair. 
This particular stick had been discovered in the back part of a 
brick oven in an old New England farm house which dated back 
at least two hundred years. When, or by whom, it had been 
placed there was entirely a mystery. It was a fine old piece, 
one of those which country people called “ hog-scrapers ” be- 
cause they were convenient in killing time to remove the 
bristles, after his hog-ship had been immersed in the boiling 
water. 

We were speaking of the old lights and she said she perfectly 
remembered seeing her mother “ dipping ” the winter’s supply 
of candles in the kitchen of the old “ down-east ” farm house 
which was her girlhood home. 

What an arduous task it was, with the great kettles of fat 


154 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


and the sticks with the wicks looped over them hanging ready 
for the numerous dippings! When it was over, she said, her 
mother carefully placed the sticks full of new candles over 
the backs of two chairs near together, that the candles might 
dry slowly and evenly and not crack. 


Many are the tales which she has told, as, sitting in her high- — 


backed rocking chair, she has lived over again the days of her 
childhood in a contented home on a big, prosperous farm in 
Maine. The family was large: father, mother, eight brothers 
and sisters, and aunts, uncles, and cousins near by, so that the 
home life was always a busy and merry one. The father, she 
proudly told us, was reputed one of the best and thriftiest 
farmers of the country-side. His potatoes and apples were 
the biggest and best and his corn the fullest eared of any round. 
When winter came, his bins were full of all kinds of vegetables 
for the family use, his pork barrels filled, his sheds piled to the 
eaves with stacks of cut wood all dried for the winter’s needs. 
What good times they had at Thanksgiving gatherings and 
husking bees after the corn was harvested! How her face 
lights up as she recalls vividly those days of long ago! One 
peculiar custom of which she told us I had never heard of 
elsewhere. In the springtime, when the sap was commencing 
to flow, the children would get up a “ slivering ” party as they 


called it. Going into the pine groves, they selected young 


vigorous trees, and, after removing the outer bark, pulled off 
long slender “slivers” of the tender bark which was then 
full of the newly running sap. She said it was as sweet as 
sugar when one chewed it. Making birch bark baskets, they 
filled them with the fresh tender pieces and took them home. 
Sugar maples were not so common in that part of Maine, so 
pine slivers probably satisfied the children’s longing for sweets 
in days when candy, as we have it now, was entirely unknqwn. 

Her great-great-grandfather (possibly another great) ob- 
tained a grant of land, took his family and yokes of oxen, and 


owe NOTES ON COLLECTING $155 


started off into the trackless wilderness to fell the trees, build 
his log house, clear the land, and plant his farm. He estab- 
lished an outpost of that civilization which spread in ever- 
widening circles from that tiny beginning on the shores of 
Massachusetts Bay. With Indians and wild creatures her an- 
cestors became very familiar in those first years in the great 
forest when they wrested a living from a reluctant soil. Many 
were the tales of those early days which she heard from the 
lips of her parents and grandparents as the tales had been 
handed down from generation to succeeding generation. 

Early in that forest life, one day while the men were at work 
in the wood cutting and clearing, as was their custom, they left 
a boy in charge of their guns, placed conveniently near as they 
worked. For eternal vigilance was necessary in a land in which 
the painted face of the savage was no uncommon sight. This 
day the boy was sleepy or careless and before he could give 
warning the savages were between him and the guns. The 
men fled for their lives, but most of them were killed. One 
young man, her great-grandfather, was captured and carried 
away. As his body was not found with the others, his fate was 
unknown to his young wife and children. Not hearing from 
him, in time they gave him up as one who had shared the fate 
of the others. More than five years later, he appeared one 
winter’s day alive and well. It seems that the Indians had 
for some unknown reason treated him kindly and taken him 
with them on a long march north, far into the Canadian woods. 
Here he lived with them, learned their language, dressed and 
seemed like an Indian. In time they put much trust in him, 
sent him on long journeys to obtain needed supplies, and re- 
laxed the vigilant watch which they had formerly kept over 
all his movements. In the winter, his chance came. He was 
sent on skates on a long errand. Supplying himself with as 
much food as he could obtain without attracting attention, he 
skated away, on and on down through Canada, across the 


156 COLONIAL LIGHT ia 


border, and, after suffering untold hardships, finally made his 
way home to his family. 


At another time a young woman, scarcely more than a girl, 


was left alone in the house while the rest of the family were 
obliged to be absent for some reason or other. Just as it was 
getting dusk, she chanced to hear an unusual sound out of 
doors. Peering through the chinks between the logs in the 
wall of the cabin, she saw several of the dreaded Indians in the 
woods circling the house. After securing the doors and win- 
dows, she blew out the candle she was using and banked the 
fire on the hearth that there might be no bright light to show 
to the prowling Indians that she was the sole occupant. Then, 
in a loud voice, she commenced conversations with Tom, Dick, 
Harry, and other imaginary members of her family. So well 
did she manage that the Indians were deceived into believing 
that there was so numerous a company of men that they did 
not dare attack. When her family returned on the following 
day, they saw in the snow the prints of moccasins circling the 
house and their tracks leading away that showed quite a num- 


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erous band. The house and probably the life of the young — ; 


woman had been saved by her quick wit and brave spirit. Of 
such fiber were the pioneers. 

At another time, this same woman was going down to the 
spring for a jug of water and looking up she saw just before 
her a mother bear and her two little cubs who had also come 
to the spring. Needless to say, she allowed them all the time 
they needed and waited until they had ambled away before 
venturing to get her own supply. , 

I have often been interested, in reading books on collecting, 
by a wonderful tale of finding some very rare piece in the 
bottom of a barrel in a junk shop, or tucked away under the 
eaves in an old barn or attic, and buying it for little or nothing. 
I have wondered then if such luck would ever be mine. 

Not long ago it was my task to close up a house for an aged 


4, he 
ee ky ee ee ee eee 


Collection of Mrs. George W. Mitton, Jamaica Piain, Boston 


Pett i, TOT See page I4/ 


RARE WEDGWOOD HANGING CHANDELIER WITH DECORATION IN SILVER LUSTER 


Collection of the Author 


BEAL EE aioe See page 138 


TWO GRACEFUL TYPES OF ASTRAL LAMPS 


cpociioc ais 


Collection of Mrs. A. A. Dana, West Orange, New Jersey 


PE Tao See pages 50, 93 
EARLY IRON RUSH-LIGHT HOLDER ON 
WOODEN BASE (LEFT) 


TIN LARD-OIL LAMP WITH TIN REFLECTOR (RIGHT) 
Collection of Mr. C. L. Cooney, Saugus 


‘ 


Sa OM NOTES ON COLLECTING $157 


relative who had moved West. The house, which had been 
his home for many years, had a large garden, although it was 
in the city. At the back of the garden, a small stable had for- 
merly been the home of a favorite driving horse. 

My relative sent me a long list of the contents of the house 
which he wished shipped to him. The balance, which he said 
was of not much value, I was to sell, give away or dispose of 
in any way I saw fit. About a carload the movers boxed and 
shipped. The rest I disposed of as he said. Some I sold, some 
I gave away, and delivered up the rest to the ash barrel and 
bonfire. 

The barn had not been used as a stable for many years and 
the hay loft had the usual accumulation of decrepit furniture 
and other things, not usable, but “ too good to throw away ” as 
the thrifty New England housewives put it. This was cleared 
out in short order. In taking one last look about to see that 
everything was gone, for the place was to be sold, we discov- 
ered in a dark corner under the eaves and covered with dust 
the bronze and luster lamp shown in Plate 105. Of course, 
we were delighted at the discovery. This lamp had evidently 
been there for years and its owner had probably long since for- 
gotten its existence. We were so glad to get the lamp, of 
course, but —if only we had the shade! But, no. That was . 
broken long ago. We groped around, nevertheless, in the 
semi-darkness still farther, and, wonder of wonders found the 
shade buried in dirt, but without a nick or scratch! And a 
wonderful shade it is you will agree with me. So I am read- 
ing these tales of extraordinary finds with more optimism, now 
that I have one such story of my own. 

I think it is much better for one beginning to collect not to 
attempt to specialize just at first. If you are, let us say, in- 
terested in lamps, I should advise a general collection. Then 
as you get better acquainted with the different kinds and peri- 
ods, you will naturally be more attracted to certain kinds or 


158 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


groups. It may be that your opportunities of location will 
enable you to obtain some kinds much more readily than others 
and will kindle interest in that branch; but a general knowl- 
edge — which can best be obtained by a general collection of 
lamps, lanterns, and the like — will be almost indispensable 
even if you have decided to confine your collecting eventually 
to only one sort of lighting devices. 

A friend of mine told me a short time ago of an interest- 
ing and amusing experience which befell him in London. He 
is, by the way, one of the most indefatigable and successful 
collectors of lighting devices that I know. He has now been 
interested in them for years, not only in American lamps but 
in lighting devices of every period from all parts of the world. 
His collection now numbers, I think, well over seven hundred 
specimens and he has journeyed to nearly every country on 
the globe in his favorite pursuit. . Some time ago he was in 
London and met there a titled Englishman, who, he was told, 
was a fellow collector of illuminating devices. The English- 
man, with the customary reticence of that nation upon meeting 
a stranger (or is it a touch of suspicion of Americans? ), had 
scarcely anything to say and my friend had to do all the talk- 
ing, which naturally fell upon the subject of their mutual in- 
terest. He expatiated at some length on the many points of 
excellence of his collection, its choice pieces, etc. Gradually 
he warmed up to his subject, while the Englishman sat smok- 
ing in stony silence, broken only by a “ humph ” now and then, 
otherwise evincing no particular interest. 

My friend, after talking about an hour, without apparently 
making the slightest dent in the Honorable’s armor, literally 
stopped for breath. His companion looked up then and in a 
bored tone asked him what he specialized in. ‘ Oh, I haven’t 
specialized in any one line in particular,” my friend replied; 
“I’m interested in the whole field of lighting appliances.” 

The Englishman shook his head. ‘That won’t get you 


meye OM NOTES ON COLLECTING 159 


anywhere,” he said; “I know, for I have tried it. If you 
want to do anything really worth while in collecting, you must 
specialize.” 

This, of course, was not particularly encouraging to the 
American, who, by the way, really has a most wonderful col- 
lection but he pulled himself together and went on talking 
until the Englishman looked up and interrupted. 

“‘ How many chuck-mucks have you? ” 

My friend looked at him aghast. 

“ Beg pardon, but I don’t think I got your question.” 

“TI said, ‘ How many chuck-mucks have you?’ ” again re- 
peated the Englishman. 

This was a poser. Not only did my friend not have any 
“‘ chuck-mucks ”, but he hadn’t the faintest notion what they 
were. The Englishman evidently noted his consternation at 
his query, for the slightest suspicion of a twinkle appeared in 
his eye and his face relaxed just a wee bit. My friend did 
the only sensible thing to do under the circumstances. He 
burst into a hearty laugh, confessed openly that he had “ no 
sich animile ” and hadn’t the faintest idea what it was. Would 
the specialist in “ chuck-mucks ” kindly tell him all about 
them? The Englishman, having discomfited the “ blooming 
American ”, proceeded to do so at length. 

Lest any of my readers remain as ignorant as I was while 
my friend was telling me this story — for I had never heard 
the word before and had no idea of its meaning — it seems 
that “ chuck-muck ” (I am not sure of its spelling) is the 
Chinese name for a kind of tinder box which was used in China 
long ago. The Englishman had made the collecting of 
“ chuck-mucks ” his particular hobby and had two hundred and 
fifty of them in his collection! And my American friend 
_ didn’t even know there was such a thing! 

In the end they became very good friends and just before 
he sailed for home his English friend proposed they take a 


160 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


walk together, for, he said, “ Let’s see if we can’t find a 
‘chuck-muck.’ ” They visited a number of curious little shops 
in out of the way places and finally their search was rewarded. 
They found a real specimen, upon which, after careful ex- 
amination, the Englishman set his stamp of approval and my 

friend purchased it. ‘ Now,” said the Englishman, “if any 
one asks, you have a chuck-muck in your collection.” Since 
then, I think he told me, he has added a number; so that now 
he has about a dozen of these curious objects. 

I have told this story for two reasons, or perhaps I might 
say that this tale has two morals. First, never — well, I won’t 
say brag or boast; for of course a really truly collector never 
does that — I’ll say, never monopolize the conversation about 
the excellence of your own collection until you have had a 
peek at least at the other man’s. It is more than possible that 
your collection may not look so extraordinary after seeing his. 
There are people who have good collections and don’t always 
talk about it. Secondly, just when you get to the point where 
you feel that you are really pretty well posted on that partic- 
ular subject, the chances are you will run across some one who 
knows so very, very much more than you do that your knowl- — 
edge will dwindle to a mere pin point and you will feel like 
starting to learn all over. This isa very healthy state of mind 
to be in; for in collecting, as in many other things in life, the 
knowledge that there is a great field ahead, unknown, and 
yet to be explored, is the finest possible stimulus and makes 
the sport of collecting what it is to-day — a sport for “ princes 
as well as ploughmen.” 

There is another side to collecting which perhaps some over- 
look. Many people have an idea that collecting, if one fol- 
lows it at all ardently, is a very expensive fad, entailing a — 
large outlay, and can only be pursued by one with plenty of 
money to spare. This, I think, is quite a wrong conception. 
A much fairer way is to consider your collection, of whatever it 


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TWO UNUSUAL TALL LAMPS, ONE PEWTER AND ONE GLASS, WITH ORIGINAL. 
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Pero NOTES ON COLLECTING 161 


may consist, as a savings bank, your deposits being the items 
which you add from time to time. If you buy intelligently 
and wisely — which you will undoubtedly do after the new- 
ness has worn off and you acquire a good working familiarity 
with your particular hobby — you will find that your bank is 
paying you a fairly respectable rate of interest in the natural 
and inevitable increase in values as the years go by. One will 
realize this when a few facts are considered. First, the supply 
of genuine antiques cannot increase. It is true that there are 
undoubtedly some pieces now hidden away in closets and attics 
and out-of-the-way houses, which are at present unknown to 
dealers and collectors. Their numbers, however, must be com- 
paratively small. Practically all the finer antiques are now 
known and tabulated, since the country has been combed so 
many times by keen-eyed searchers that the per cent undiscov- 
ered must be small. Secondly, the known supply is gradually 
diminishing. Fire, decay, and accidents take their toll each 
year. The number of collectors, on the contrary, is increasing 
year by year. As the supply gradually diminishes and competi- 
tion to possess becomes keener and keener, more people are 
attracted each year, so that the inevitable result is gradually in- 
creasing prices for those pieces which do find their way to mar- 
ket. Collectors will find that the better the pieces, the more 
rapidly values go up. Almost any dealer will tell you to-day 
that the difficulty is not in selling his stock — but in replenish- 
ing it. The demand has overtaken the supply. Ten or twenty 
years ago it was just the opposite, plenty of antiques but few 
buyers; to-day, more buyers than goods. Under these condi- 
tions what better or safer use is there for your spare change 
than an intelligent, conservative investment in some form of 
antiques? 

You have the satisfaction of acquiring, the pleasure of daily 
enjoyment in the sight or use of those things in which you de- 
light. If your circumstances change, or you tire of your par- 


162 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


ticular branch of collecting, or for any other veaslfltich to 
dispose of your collection, you will undoubtedly find that you 
can realize your entire outlay with a handsome margin of profit 
besides. The enjoyment of ownership for all the intervening 
years has cost you nothing. 

I think that this is much the better and more correct way of 


considering the entire field of collecting and I am sure an in- 


timate knowledge of many of the sales of later years, both pri- 
vate and public, will bear me out in my statements. But lay- 
ing all monetary considerations aside, I feel perfectly safe in 
saying that at least ninety-nine out of every hundred collectors 
will tell you that the pleasure of seeking and finding outweighs 
the cost many times over. 

A phase of this sentiment for the antique, often overlooked, 
merits our consideration. It is a sad but noticeable fact that 
many of the places where people live to-day are not homes in 
the truest and deepest sense of the word. Too often they are 
merely convenient stopping places where one sleeps and 
snatches hasty meals between the claims of the office, store or 


shop and the more absorbing pleasures of the theater, dance, — 


party, movie, game or what not. 

Our dwellings often sadly lack that genial atmoanie of 
hospitality, comfort, and good cheer which we of the older 
generation idence in the homes we knew and loved. So 
little care or thought seems to be given to-day to the con- 
tents or arrangement of our modern dwellings that it is not 
to be wondered at that our young people are found anywhere 
but in their homes. 

Picture a fair-sized living room, its fireplace filled with sweet 
smelling hardwood sticks sending forth their cheerful blazing 
warmth. and comfort; some comfortable old chairs and a sofa 


or two invitingly near; a secretary of fine old wood reflecting — 


the light of the fire from its polished surface and old brasses, 


and behind its panelled doors gleaming bits of old china, silver, 


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RANDOM NOTES ON COLLECTING 163 


and pewter; slender-legged antique tables here and there laden 
with books, magazines and a quaint old lamp or two. Old rugs 
in soft colors lie on the floor and a few good engravings mel- 
lowed with years hang on the walls. An elusive but plainly 
perceptible home atmosphere clings to those fine old pieces of 
furniture. On Sunday nights, the family and any chance vis- 
itors gather around the fire while the hostess from the con- 
venient tea tray serves in grandmother’s best, gold band wed- 
ding china. Can you estimate the refining influence of such an 
atmosphere on the casual visitor and still more upon the child 
growing up in such surroundings? 

Are not the virtues of care and thoughtfulness for the aged 
and infirm, of hospitality toward one’s friends and neighbors, 
of respect and love for parents and of desire to make the most 
of one’s self through life more easily cultivated into strong, 
sturdy growths in such environments than in the atmosphere of 
some of the homes we know to-day? 

That the world to-day is in a most unhappy condition is self- 
evident. I believe there is at the present time in America a 
crying need for the real, old-fashioned, Christian home, a 
home bright with loving thoughtfulness for others rather than 
self, warm with the glow of genuine welcome for friends and 
neighbors, rich in the seeking of ways of service to the less for- 
tunate, of kindnesses to the shut-ins, the sick and particularly 
the aged; a happy, peaceful home where the vexations and 
bickerings of a great self-seeking world are left outside the 
door, and where within its portals the aim of each is to help 
and cheer; a home that we leave with regret and return to with 
eager anticipations,— that neighbors and friends love to visit 
— a true home. 

Tennyson’s biographer said, “ He felt with Wordsworth that 
upon the sacredness of the home life depended the greatness 
and stability of a people.” If only somehow we could get 
back to a nation of real homes, many of the social and industrial 


164 COLONIAL LIGHTING 


problems which vex us so sorely at the present time would solve 
themselves and our influence upon the other peoples of this 
world would be tremendously increased for real and lasting 
good. I cannot do better in closing than to echo the words 
of one of our loved New England poets — 


“O make Thou us, through centuries long, 
In peace secure, in justice strong; 
Around our gift of freedom draw 
The safeguards of Thy righteous law; 
And cast in some diviner mould, 
Let the new cycle shame the old! ” 


INDEX 


Apams, SAMUEL, 43, 65 

Ambergris, 134, 135 

Argand burner, invention of, 123 

Argand, M., 122 

Astral lamps, 128, 129, 137, 138, 
157 

Author’s collection, 16, 32, 33, 355 
36, 61, 68, 118, 130, 138 


BartTLetT, Doctor Jostau, 40 
Bayberry candles, 75, 78 
Beacon Hill, 51, 60, 142 
Bennett, E. & W., 80 
Bennington pottery, 79 
Betty lamps, iron, 3, 11, 16, 17, 26, 
29.<28 
Betty lamps, tin, 14, 24, 29, 32 
Biblical references, 6, 7, 8, 71 
Blowpipe for glass making, 107 
Boston Glass Works, 106 
Brandegee, Edward D., 143 
Brass lamps, 31, 48, 49, 51, 52 
Brazer, Clarence W., 90 
Bickley, T. M., 47 
Brinton, Francis D., 28, 89 
Broadhearth, 13, 14 
Brown, John, 57, 58 
Bull’s-eye lamps, 41, 42 
Butler, General Benj. F., 48 
Burr, Aaron, 66 


CatHoun, Joun C., 40 

Cambridge Glass Works, 106, 107, 
108 

Camphene lamps, 38, 46, 52, 54, 
$12,: 120, 131 

Candelabra, 139, 140 

Candle box, 95 


Candle moulds, 77, 78 
Candle stands, iron, 81, 82, 87, 89, 


93 

Candle stands, tin, 95 

Candle stands, wooden, 26, 88, 89 

Candle wood, 12 

Candles, dipped, 76, 84 

Candles, moulded, 77, 84 

Candlestick, pork-barrel, 81, 97 

Candlesticks, brass, 90, 91, 92, 98 

Candlesticks, brass, folding, 99 

Candlesticks, glass, 99, 100, IOI, 
142 

Candlesticks, iron, 81, 93, 94, 97 

Candlesticks, pewter, 92, 98 

Candlesticks, pottery, 79, 80, 96 

Candlesticks, Sheffield, 100, 102, 
142 

Carver, John, 11, 16 

Chamber lamps, 46, 49, 113 

Chandeliers, glass, 139, I41, 142, 
143 

Chandeliers, iron, 90 

Chuck-mucks, 159 

Civil War lamps, 49, 61, 99, 113, 
115 

Clapp, Andrew, 115 

Clay lamps, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10 

Columbian Centinel, 43, 87 

Connecticut Magazine, 57 

Constitution, U. S. Frigate, 43, 91 

Cooney, C. Lawrence, 14, 25, 27, 
28, 52, S15. 88, 94,/06 

Copper lamps, 25, 31 


Dana, Mrs. A. A., 50 
Davis, Jefferson, 39, 115 
Demond, Elijah, 97 


166 


Dexter, Lord Timothy, 73 
Dickens, Charles, 58 

Domestic Encyclopaedia, 84, 125 
Dow, General Neal, 50 

Dutch pewter lamp, 44 

Dutch pottery lamps, 28, 31 


Ericsson, CapTaIn JoHN, 41, 61 

Esquimaux lamps, 8, 9 

Extinguishers for candles, 52, 101, 
102 


FacToRY LAMPS, 32 

Faulkner Farm, 143 

Fawkes, Guy, 72 

Fire baskets, 59 

Flint Enameled Ware, 79 

Flint and steel, 82 

Ford, Henry, 29, 42, 53, 54, 69, 
103 

Fort Sumter, 91 

Franklin, Benjamin, 37, 107 


Gates, Burton N., 26, 42, 45, 46, 
50, 67; 68, 73, 77) 79, 81, 89; 
94> 955 97» 99, 119, 131 

Gerry, Elbridge, 91 

Glass, manufacture of, 
113, 114 ba 

Gleason’s Pictorial, 111 

Grant, Horace R., 52, 56 

Grease lamps, I0, 175 27, 255420, 
30, 31 

Grecian lamps, 3, 6 

Guest-room lamps, 27 

Guerriére, Br. ship, 91 


105, 407; 


Hamuin, HanniBa, 92 

Hancock, John, 43, 60, 63, 64, 65 
Hancock mansion, 63, 64, 73 
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 39 

Hebrew lamps, 7, 8 

Hillyer, V. M., 45, 97,83, 63, 101 


INDEX 


Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 91 
Hooker, General Joseph, 113 
Hull, Captain, 91 

Hurricane glasses, 102, 103 


Inpian Hitt Mansion, 73, 143 
Ipswich Betty lamps, 14, 29, 32 
Iron lamps, 11, 25, 26, 27, 29, 3 
Iron Master’s House, 13, 52 
Iron ore, 13 


JEsuIT LAMP, 25 
Jordon Marsh Co., 101, 115, 117 


KearsarGE, U. S. S., 61 
Knox, General, 34 
LANTERNS, BULL’S-EYE, 61, 70 
Lanterns, copper, 56, 59 
Lanterns, Feast of, 70 
Lanterns, hall, 63, 73, 74 
Lanterns, horn, 56 
Lanterns, iron, 55, 63 
Lanterns, masonic, 62, 68 
Lanterns, Paul Revere, 62 
Lanterns, railroad, 56, 68, 69 ae 
Lanterns,’ tiny $5, foes 58, 615 
67, 68, 70 
Lanterns, watchman’s, 59, 61, 68, 70 x 
Lanterns, wooden, 63, 69 * 
Lard oil lamps, pewter, 41,475 ee 
Lard oil lamps, tin, 34, 126, kant 
Lee, General Robert E., 41, 11 ay 
Lexington, 43, 66 : 
Lincoln, Abraham, 47, 92 
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 43; 
112 : 
Louisburg, 55 


‘ 


MacDonoucn’s Victory, 146 _ 
Marble, Mrs. A. C., 99, 119 
Marine lamps, 46, 61, 63 
Massachusetts State House, 51, 
64 3 


INDEX 


Matches, 82, 99 

Mitton, Mrs. Geo. W., 100, 120, 
121,141, 142 

Morey & Ober, 46 

Murray, Mrs. Henry A., 98 


NANTUCKET, 16, 133 

New England Glass Co., 68, 106, 
Vere 312 

New Bedford, 16, 133 

Nippur, 5, 9 

Nofthend, Miss Mary H., 65, 73, 
142 

Morton, Voctor C. A. Q., 3, 5, 9; 
14, 16, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 
39, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 


49, 55, 56, 57, 61, 90, 91, 112 
Nutting, Wallace, 13 


O1L, FISH AND WHALE, 8, II, 15, 
132 

Oliver Ellsworth, The, 61 

Otis, Harrison Gray, 111 


PATENTED LAMPS, 68, I13, 122, 
botseias, 120, 127, 130, 131, 
132 

Peg lamps, §1, 100, 113, 114, 119, 
131, 142 

Petticoat lamps, tin, 33, 51, 53 

Pewter, 36, 37 

Pewter Betty lamps, 29 

Pewter lamps, 30, 36, 38, 40, 41, 
42, 44, 45, 46, 51, 52, 54, 130 

Pewterer’s marks, 38, 40 

Phoebe lamps, 16, 27, 30 

Pierce, Franklin, 38, 39 

Pilgrim lamps, 11, 13 

Pontil marks, 107 

Poore, Ben Perley, 73, 143 

Pottery lamps, 28, 31 

Pricket, 87 


Quincy, Dororuy, 65 


167 


Quincy, Doctor Jacob, 49 
Quincy Glass Works, 105, 114 
Quincy, Josiah, 42 


READING LAMPS, PEWTER, 41, 42, 54 
Revere, Paul, 42, 43 

Roman lamps, 3, 6, 10 

Rumford, Count, 127, 128 

Rush dippers, 93 

Rush lights, 8, 75, 92, 93 ‘ 
Rush light holders, 26, 92, 93 


SALEM, 18, 63, 105, 143 

Sandwich glass patterns, 110, I14, 
FIG, C07, .1 18, Pes 

Sandwich Glass Works, 99, 
107, 108, 110, 131, 114 

Saugus iron works, 13, 17 

Sconces, pewter, 98 

Sconces, tin, 94, 95, 98 

Shop lamps, 25, 52 

Shop lantern, 56, 67 

Sievers, Doctor Robert E., 27 

Smelter, early iron, 13 

Snuffers, 88, IOI 

Society for the Preservation of New 
England Antiquities, 111 

Sparking lamps, 45, 51, 52, 113, 
119 

Sperm oil, 16, 133 

Spermaceti, 75, 87 

Squat lamps, 45 

Stone lamps, 5, 8, 10 

Stowe, Mrs. Harriet Beecher, 115 

Street lighting, 60 

Student lamp, 52, 97 


105; 


TaPERs, 103 

Taper sticks, 102, 103 

Tavern lamps, 45, 51, 52 
Temple, N. H. Glass Works, 105 
Tidy-top, 29, 32 

Time lamp, 45 


168 


Tin ‘lamps, early, 14,23, 24, (25; 
27; 30031325134 

Tin lamps, later, 33, 34, 35, 47; 
50, 51, 52, 53, 54 

Tinder boxes, 82, 83, 84, 95, 96 

Tinder, pistol, 83, 96 

Torches, 8, 12 

Transcript, Boston, 111 

Tumbler lamp, 130 


Unirep States Potrery, 79 


WessTER, Noan, 34 
Wechfeld House, 143 


INDEX 


Wedgwood, Josiah, 140, 141 
Westover mansion, 90 
Whale fishing, 15, 132,004 2, nee: 


137 

Whaler’s lamp, 33 

Whey butter lamps, 25 

Whittier, John Greenleaf, 113 

Witch lamps, 17 

Witchcraft, History of Salem, 17, 
18, 19,-20,° 21, 2asne" 

Williams, Mrs. Lenore Wheeler, 
106, 119 

Worcester Historical Society, 50, 69, 
94, 96, 130, 131, 132 


THE END 


ann 


GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE 


3 3125 01379 6277, 


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